Dengue cases fall, civic agency numbers go up
NEW DELHI: Dengue wards in government hospitals are mostly empty, despite the municipal corporations confirming 1,838 cases in the week ending October 17, taking the total to 12,531.
“Dengue cases peaked almost three or four weeks ago, since then the cases are down by 70%,” said Dr Srikant Sharma, senior consultant physician at Moolchand Hospital.
The sudden spike in the numbers is due to the fact that the civic agency has added cases that occurred weeks ago to its list now.
“According to the information I have received, the numbers are going down but this report also includes backlog cases. Depending on when the hospitals send in the case histories, a committee reviews the cases and then it is added to the report. Sometimes the hospitals do not send in the details in time,” said Yogendra Maan, MCD spokesperson.
Lok Nayak Hospital, one of the biggest government-run hospitals in central Delhi, had made 250 beds available for dengue patients during peak season. Two of these wards, with about 150 beds, are empty.
There has been a decline in dengue or fever patients visiting the fever clinic for the past 10 days, said a doctor who looks after the fever clinic at the hospital. “At the moment, there are 70 patients admitted with dengue or dengue-like symptoms. Now, the hospital gets only about 30 admissions every day, while during the peak we had some 110-120 admissions every day,” he said.
The same trend is being observed at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital too. “The numbers are definitely going down. There are vacant beds in our dengue wards right now. In September, three people were sharing each bed, with around 100 patients being admitted every day. Now, we just get around 30 cases every day,” a doctor at the hospital said.
These wards are being allocated for the treatment of swine flu now.
Two deaths were reported in the week ending October 17, taking the toll to 32. An unofficial count by HT pegs the death toll at 47.