Dengue death toll at 33 in Delhi; Total cases rises to 1,548

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) As the mosquito menace continued to haunt people in Delhi, the dengue toll in the capital today rose to 33 and the total number of reported cases increased to 1,548.

Twentytwo-year-old Manoj Kumar, a resident of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, succumbed to the viral disease in the early hours at AIIMS.

MCD officials said of the total number of cases till 1000 hrs this morning, 982 are from Delhi alone while the rest are from outside.

Central Zone, Najafgarh and Shahdara (North) continued to remain the worst affected areas which have reported 194, 123 and 121 cases respectively.

During the past 24 hours ending at 1000 hrs, 27 fresh dengue cases were admitted in AIIMS while 39 people were discharged.

The total number of dengue patients undergoing treatment at AIIMS now stands at 176, AIIMS superintendent Dr D K Sharma said.

He said about 200 suspected cases are under observation in the hospital.

More than 18,000 patients have been screened at the AIIMS emergency OPD since October 3, doctors said. An average of 1000 people are being screened daily at the emergency OPD.

The hospital is conducting about 1,600 platelet-counting tests daily with the help of four separator machines, functioning round-the-clock.

Doctors at the premier healthcare institute are struggling to keep pace with the dengue deluge and today again urged Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss to declare the outbreak an epidemic.

AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association has threatened to go on strike if the October 18's Institute Body Meeting, chaired by Dr Ramadoss, takes a decision against AIIMS Director Dr P Venugopal.

''The Health Minister has been targeting Dr Venugopal... We will stand by the Director and if required go on strike in our fight against injustice,'' RDA General Secretary Dr Anil Sharma said.

''Dengue is not abating.... The numbers are increasing every day.

Dr Ramadoss must declare it an epidemic and not play politics. More resources to fight the disease will be available then,'' he added.

Only emergency and dengue patients are being admitted to the the hospital.

''AIIMS, a super specialty institute, has been reduced to a hospital which will only deal with dengue. Our resources have been stretched to the limits,'' Dr Sharma said.

''We have been told only to admit dengue and emergency patients.

People who have been waiting for their renal, heart or liver surgeries for years are being turned away,'' he pointed out.

''If an epidemic is declared, we can refer dengue patients to other hospitals and attend to other patients also,'' he said.

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