Dengue claims 35 lives, malaria follows; alert sounded

New Delhi, Oct 3 (UNI) Dengue has claimed 35 lives so far as an alert was sounded in several parts of the country with notices to 13 hospitals in the Capital for not doing enough to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes on their premises.

Delhi with 11 deaths is followed by Maharashtra with 10, UP and Rajasthan with 7 each.

Out of total 479 cases reported from in and around Delhi till October 1, 280 have been from Delhi only with 11 fresh cases being reported every day.

Health Minister Anbumoni Ramadoss said he has called a meeting of affected northern states on October 5 to deliberate on the alarming increase in disease cases.

The minister has called a meeting of health ministers of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan on Thursday where steps for preventing spread of dengue would be discussed.

Rajasthan has reported 20 deaths due to malaria.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has, over the last week, 'challaned' about 13 hospitals, including Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, the ESI hospital, Modi Hospital, Ganga Ram Hospital, Batra Hospital, the Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital for not doing enough to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes, MCD health officer M K Yadav said.

With a sharp rise in dengue cases in the capital, the Delhi Government today approved an action plan to overcome the situation.

The decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The Cabinet decided that the school students should be advised to wear full length uniform to avoid aedes mosquito bite.

Most of these hospitals were challaned after MCD officials, during an inspection, found stagnant water on their campuses.

''The hospitals have been asked to make efforts to curb growth on their premises of possible breeding for mosquitoes,''Mr Yadav said.

At the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), a student -- Raj Kiran-- died on Saturday due to the viral fever, while 45 dengue patients have been admitted there, including 20 resident doctors, students and nurses from the institute. Two students-- Kunal Kumar Yadav and Rohan Khoda-- have been admitted to the ICU and their condition is critical.

Last Sunday the reported figure was 327, which rose to 448, registering an increase of 121 in just one week.

In Rajasthan, 27 people have died due to dengue and malaria during the last two months, Medical and Health Minister Dr Digamber Singh said.

He, however, added that the outbreak of the two vector-borne diseases is well under control.

Twenty people died due to malaria while seven died of dengue, he said.

Addressing a press conference , the Minister said of the 193 cases of dengue in the state, 76 were reported from the state capital Jaipur.

But, only one dengue related death have occurred in Jaipur out of the total seven deaths due to the disease in the state.

Deaths due to malaria have almost doubled during the last two months as compared to the last year with 20 deaths in different parts of the state. As many as 21746 people were affected by the fever.

Eight malaria deaths were reported from Bikaner district.

Three people died in Karauli of dengue out of the 33 cases reported from the district.

Dr Singh said the spurt in the viral fevers was due to flood and increased moisture with about 40 lakh people under the grip of viral fever and chickungunya.

In Agra, at least seven people died due to vector-borne dengue and chikungunya diseases so far.

Health department sources said today Pathauli village has had the maximum impact of chikungunya claiming the life of a child, while 50 others have also taken ill.

On the other hand, dengue toll touched six in Agra after a patient died at a nursing home in Shahid Nagar. The symptoms of Chikungunya are high fever, joints pain and exhaustion. It also affects heart and kidney of a patient. In Maharashtra, a total of ten persons have died of dengue since June this year during the current monsoon season informed Joint Director Malaria and Filaria Department, D S Dakore.

''There is no cause to worry. The department has been checking the stagnant water bodies and people have been alerted,'' he said.

Pune registered the first dengue death on Saturday, while five others are admitted in the hospital, said Dr Rajesh Gadia of KEM Hospital. Confirming the death, Dr Gadia told UNI that ''This was routine. Dengue cases do come up mostly in this month as mosquitoes, the carrier of the disease, breed in stagnant water bodies. Usually, one or two patients come during the day. This is a small outbreak and there is nothing to be alarmed about. This situation continues till the end of October.'' Meanwhile, Punjab government, taking a serious view of suspected dengue cases being reported in the region, has put on alert all the government hospitals in the state and directed the medical officers to maintain adequate stocks of medicines and fluids.

Addressing a high level meeting of the officers of the Health Department today in Chandigarh, Minister for health and family welfare Surinder Singla said that there was no need to panic. He asked the public to cooperate with the health authorities to wipe out dengue.

Giving details of the guidelines issued by the health department, Mr Singla said that all the medical and paramedical staff had been sensitised to effectively detect and promptly treat any patient having dengue like symptoms. He also called for generating awareness in the public on preventive steps which include preventing the stagnation of water.

The minister asked the civil surgeons to ensure day-to-day liaison with all the private hospitals as well as nursing homes in their respective district to keep a check on the patients reported with dengue like symptoms. A control room has been set up at the state headquarters to monitor the situation.

In Jammu and Kashmir an alert has been sounded as two suspected cases of dengue were reported today. Reports say one case of dengue has already been confirmed.

A high-level meeting of the health department was also held yesterday in the wake of hundreds of dengue cases in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

The government has geared up to face any eventuality and steps were being taken to prevent the spread of the disease. People have been asked to keep their surroundings clean to prevent breeding of mosquitoes.

UNI