Delhi govt seeks support of people to fight dengue,chikungunya

New Delhi, Sep 17: Grappling with rising cases of dengue and chikungunya in the city, Delhi government today said that all hospitals and fever clinics will remain open on Sundays even as it appealed to people not to panic.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said a mass awareness campaign is being launched across the city tomorrow under which people have been asked to devote at least 30 minutes to check if there were stagnant water in their residential complexes and around it, to prevent mosquito-breeding.

"We appeal to people to devote at least half an hour time from their daily life and work towards this campaign. There are 42 lakh households in Delhi, and if all of you cooperate then we can together root out dengue and chikungunya from the city," he said.

At least 15 people have died due to chikungunya complication and 18 have succumbed to dengue this season. Over 1,700 cases of chikungunya have been reported in the national capital while dengue has affected more than 1,100 people.

Delhi government has been under attack from opposition parties for "failing" to check the spread of the two vector-borne diseases.

Jain said, in the meeting yesterday with Union Health Minister J P Nadda, "I had requested him to reserve at least 10 per cent of the beds in Central government-run hospitals like RML, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge, and they have agreed to it. So, 1,000 additional beds would now be available in hospitals here."

"We appeal to people to not panic. All adequate arrangements are there in all hospitals, run under Delhi government or Centre or MCD," he added.

The minister said prevention is better than cure and if people can "check for stagnation water in flower pots, utensils, tyres and remove them, then sources of mosquito-breding would be removed." On the issue of helpline for fogging not being answered promptly, "These are MCD helplines for fogging. We will look into the complaints and address the issue," he said.

PTI