(rpt deleting matter in para one)

New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) Two more people have died of dengue in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), taking the death toll in the national capital to 16 so far.

The total number of dengue cases till 1000 hrs this morning has shot up to 673, officials said.

Twenty-year-old Dharam Singh, a resident of Delhi's Badarpur area, died at about 0730 hrs after suffering from dengue fever. He was admitted to the hospital at about 0430 hrs, AIIMS spokesperson Shakti Gupta said.

Eighteen-year-old Rahmet Ali, from Delhi, died yesterday.

He said 34 new patients have been admitted in the past 24 hours in the hospital, taking the total number of dengue patients to 99.

Five patients were discharged from the institute in past 24 hours. The spokesperson said the number of patients being reported from within the institute was decreasing.

While 14-year-old Reshma, hailing from Meerut, succumbed to the viral disease yesterday, 35-year-old Bansi died in the institute after suffering haemorrhagic fever on Tuesday. Sources at Sarfdarjung confirmed that a patient had died in the hospital due to dengue.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's two grandsons--Rohan and Madhav-- were yesterday diagnosed with dengue fever at AIIMS, doctors said.

Rohan and Madhav were admitted to a private ward of AIIMS with high fever. Doctors said their condition was stable. A student -- Raj Kiran-- died on September 30 due to viral fever.

An official said more than 3,500 patients were screened in the newly set up fever screening Emergency OPD since Tuesday.

He said the ongoing preventive measures for stopping the mosquito breeding as well as anti-mosquito measures were intensified.

MCD Medical Health Officer N K Yadav said 673 cases of dengue had been reported till this morning, of which 409 were from Delhi while others were reported from outside the capital.

The worst affected from dengue have been Najafgarh, Shahdara (North), Karol Bagh, and Central Zones which have reported 58, 50, 46 and 40 cases respectively.

However, unconfirmed reports put the total number of cases at 1,000.

The MCD has challaned the Swami Dayanand hospital in Shahdara (North) zone after Mayor Farhad Suri, during a surprise inspection, found mosquito breeding in the premises of the hospital run by the Corporation.

The 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 on their premises.

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.

AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association General Secretary alleged Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss should help doctors at the institute to combat the situation.

''The situation has come to this point and the Health Minister is playing petty politics.... He should come and help as a doctor,'' he said.

Faculty member and Progressive Medicos and Scientists' Forum spokesperson Dr Vikas Bajpai accused the AIIMS management of negligence.

''At a time when there is an explosion in cases of dengue at AIIMS, most of the senior medical staff of AIIMS casualty has been deputed to organise the Indo-US Summit on Emergency Medicine that is going on at the institute,'' he said.

''The emergency services have been virtually left to junior doctors who are not oriented to deal with the outbreak of dengue,'' he alleged.

UNI NR SB KN1846