Dengue death toll 18 in Delhi; Total cases 743

New Delhi, Oct 7: Dengue death toll in the national capital rose to 18 this morning with the death of one more patient at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the wee hours.

Forty-two-year-old Usman Ghani, from Delhi's Gandhinagar area, died due to dengue fever at about 0430 hrs, doctors said.

The MCD had put the total number of reported cases at 743 till 1000 hrs yesterday morning. Out of the total number of cases 469 cases are from Delhi and the rest from outside.

More than 5,500 patients have been screened at the AIIMS emergency OPD since Tuesday.

Only emergency patients are being admitted in the institute as the hospital is struggling to keep pace with a deluge of dengue patients.

''Only those patients who need emergency medical attention are being admitted. We are facing a severe manpower and resource crunch.... Dengue patients are pouring in from all over in AIIMS but the institute does not have infrastructure to deal with this situation,'' said Dr Anil Sharma, member of the Resident Doctors' Association.

AIIMS has launched a 24-hour helpline to create awareness about the disease.

The condition of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's two grandsons --Rohan and Madhav-- diagnosed with dengue on Wednesday at AIIMS, is stable. They will be discharged soon, doctors said.

UNI

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