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Health ministry feels the bite of dengue
Published on Sat, Oct 07, 2006 at 20:41 in 
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New Delhi: Forty-five-year-old Najma from Dadri was the 18th patient to succumb to the deadly dengue fever in the Capital. The disease has the entire country in its grip and the number of dengue cases in Delhi alone have crossed the 800 mark.
Hospital services are reeling under the pressure.
Says Shobha Droor, AIIMS microbioligist, "We are getting about 40 to 50 samples per day and its much more than what we normally process and we are working over time.''
With similar cases being reported from 14 other states, the Health Ministry seems to be struggling to control the crisis.
After Delhi High Court's criticism on Friday, Union Health Secrataries have been asked to submit a status report to the Cabinet Secretary.
Thirty more hospitals are being roped in to provide free testing facilities and a special commitee has been formed to ensure there is sufficient supply of blood for donation.
Says Health Secretary P K Hota, "The Government has permitted all hospital superintendents to engage extra staff as per their requirement so that patient care is not neglected and not found to be deficient."
The rising number of dengue patients versus the collapsing infrastructure - that's the story not just at AIIMS but at almost all hospitals in the Capital. Epidemic or not, it's high time that the Government intervenes and puts in place an alternative inhouse mechanism.
And despite all that is being done to control dengue, there are breeding grounds for the Aedes mosquito right at the doorstep of Rashtrapati Bhawan - which is just one of the loopholes that the Government has overlooked.
(With inputs from Neha Seth)
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