Amid Surge In Dengue Cases, Delhi Govt Asks Hospitals Not To Deny Admission To Patients Over Lack Of Beds

Dy CM of Delhi, Manish Sisodia has asked all city hospitals to reserve 15% of beds for patients with the vector-borne disease.

New Delhi: Amid the rising cases of Dengue in the national capital, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia on Tuesday asked all the city hospitals to reserve approximately 15 per cent of their beds for patients of vector-borne diseases, as reported by the news agency PTI. He has further asked to use the vacant beds for COVID patients to accommodate the patients of dengue since the occupancy of COVID beds is low at the moment. In addition to this, hospitals have been instructed not to deny the admission of any patient into their hospital due to the lack of beds, reported a news agency PTI. 

"Delhi govt has asked all city hospitals to reserve 10-15 per cent beds for patients of vector-borne diseases. Upon seeing low occupancy of Covid beds, Delhi govt has asked hospitals to use vacant beds to accommodate dengue patients," said the minister as quoted by PTI.

According to a report issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday, the city had recorded 937 cases of dengue this year up to the end of September, and 321 additional cases were reported in the first five days of October, bringing the total number of cases of the vector-borne disease in the city to 1,258.

Additionally, it is the most dengue cases that have been reported during the period of January 1 to October 5 since 2017, when the corresponding number was 2,564. The city has seen a significant dengue outbreak in 2015, with 10,600 cases reported in October. The dengue epidemic in Delhi was the worst since 1996. This illness has not yet been linked to any recorded deaths this year.

This year, Delhi has seen a total of 153 instances of malaria and 28 cases of chikungunya.

According to the MCD, campaigns have been held to stop the spread of dengue. According to the MCD report, breeding of mosquito larvae has been found at 1,37,938 households this year till October 5. Authorities have issued 99,849 legal notices for mosquitogenic conditions, and 37,726 prosecutions were launched.

Many individuals with viral infections are having "overlapping symptoms" of Covid and the vector-borne disease during a rise in dengue cases in the national capital, leaving both patients and medical professionals uncertain about the precise diagnosis.

Doctors have said that in such uncertainty it's a bit difficult to diagnose whether the person is COVID-positive or suffering from Dengue.

(With PTI Inputs)