Dengue claims 47 lives across the country

New Delhi, Oct 8: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to take stock of the situation as Dengue cases shot up to 886 in the capital alone.

The disease has spread to 18 states and claimed 47 lives so far.

Dr Singh visited his two grandsons and son-in-law at the institute and also went to the general dengue wards-- AB3 and D2-- to meet with the patients. ''He spoke to about 30 to 40 patients and asked about their well being,'' AIIMS Medical Superintendent D K Sharma said.

The Prime Minister's grandson Rohan, who was diagnosed with dengue on Wednesday at AIIMS, was discharged this morning. Dr Singh's other grandson -- Madhav-- and son-in-law will be discharged in a few days.

Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary P K Hota said the situation arising due to spread of dengue fever in 18 states, which claimed 47 lives so far, was serious but under control.

''All major hospitals in the affected states were equipped with staff and equipment to handle the rush of patients. There were enough beds, medical supplies, blood and platelet,'' Mr Hota said while briefing the media after a meeting with cabinet secretary B K Chaturvedi, who reviewed the dengue situation in the country.

With more than 3500 being afflicted with dengue, Mr Hota appealed to the people not to panic and said, ''The situation is serious. But it is not out of hand.'' Two more patients succumbed to the viral disease yesterday, taking the death toll to 21 in the capital in the past 24 hours.

Forty-two-year-old Vinod, a resident of Ghaziabad, died last night after suffering dengue shock syndrome. Najma, a resident of Dadri, also succumed to the dengue shock syndrome yesterday evening.

In AIIMS, 28 more dengue patients, including three from the institute, were admitted in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 152. More than 6,000 patients have been screened at the AIIMS emergency OPD since Tuesday. The worst affected areas from dengue are Central Zone, Najafgarh and Shahdra (North) which have reported 74, 70 and 68 cases respectively.

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 the country in AIIMS but the institute does not have infrastructure to deal with this situation,'' said Dr Anil Sharma, member of the Resident Doctors' Association.

He said the Union Health Ministry must ensure that other hospitals in the city are also pressed into service to handle the dengue deluge. ''Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss is not aware about the ground situation.... Dengue should be declared an epidemic. We will get more resources then. We are running short of blood and platelets,'' he added. AIIMS has launched a 24-hour helpline to create awareness about the disease.

Two MPs-- Bihar JD(U) President Rajiv Ranjan and Rajya Sabha member Virender Malik --have been admitted to AIIMS for dengue treatment. They have been admitted to the private ward, doctors said. ''Both have tested positive for the viral disease,'' they added.

Meanwhile, one person died and five others were affected with dengue in Andhra Pradesh, State Director of Health P Venkateswara Rao said.

Andhra Pradesh Health and Finance Minister K Rosaiah said the state government had launched a ''three-year massive programme'', with the participation of all government departments and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), to control Dengue and other vector borne diseases in the state.

A day after the Allahabad High Court issued stern directives to the district authorities to control the spread of fatal dengue Uttar Pradesh government claimed adequate measures have been made to combat them even as they admitted 214 patients infected in 27 districts in UP with reports of six deaths so far.

Of the total dengue infected people in the state, 104 patients are in the districts adjoining the national capital.

State principal secretary (health and medical) Arun Kumar Mishra here told mediapersons Gautam Buddha Nagar recorded the highest number of dengue patients of 46 followed by 38 in Lucknow, 32 in Ghaziabad, 20 in Muzaffarnagar, 14 in Kanpur, 9 in Agra, while 7 each in Varanasi and Farrukabad.

UNI

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