A 75-year-old man died due to chikungunya at Ganga Ram Hospital on Tuesday evening, a day afer three men in their 60s succumbed to the mosquito-borne disease at the hospital, taking the number of fatalities in the national capital to five so far.The patient, Prakash Kalra, was a resident of Mathura. He died of kidney failure as a result of complications arising from chikungunya.Earlier, the hospital reported the deaths of three men on Monday of the disease.According to the hospital, R. Pandey, 65, admitted to Ganga Ram on September 11 from Ghaziabad-based Yashodhara Hospital, died on Monday morning. "Pandey's test for the vector-borne disease came positive with an extremely high viral count," said a senior official of the hospital.Pandey, a diabetic, died after sepsis set in due to chikungunya fever. He died at around 4.30 a.m.Another patient to succumb was 61-year-old Uday Shankar, who died on Monday afternoon.
"Shankar, a resident of Dwarka, was admitted to Ganga Ram on September 11. He collapsed due to chikungunya-led complications on September 12. He had reported positive for chikungunya on September 8 at the OPD," said the official. Shankar was also suffering from a kidney ailment.The third death due to chikungunya complications was of 62-year old Ashok Chauhan.Earlier on September 1, a 22-year-old-woman succumbed to chest infection which set in as a result of chikungunya, at MCD's Bara Hindu Rao Hospital. Taking cognisance of the deaths, the Delhi government on Tuesday announced an additional 1,000 beds for fever patients and a helpline number to provide information to people.The beds will be provided in the three nodal hospitals for vector-borne diseases - Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital and Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital. It also announced a Control Room with a helpline number -- 011-22307145.
Urging the people to not panic due to the rising cases of dengue and chikungunya, Delhi government's Health Department said that it is fully prepared to deal with vector-borne diseases."The government has established dedicated Fever Clinics in its 26 hospitals (functional 24 hours), 262 Delhi government dispensaries (functional from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and 106 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics (functional from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.) to cater to fever patients," said an official statement.According to the Delhi government, the treatment, lab diagnosis of dengue and chikungunya, are available free of cost in all Delhi government health institutions.The Delhi government has said that private hospitals and nursing homes can increase their bed capacity.The government has deployed manpower to fever clinics and emergencies and also ensured that hospitals provide drinking water with ORS in all the hospital OPDs.Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who was in Goa and returned Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, said the situation in Delhi government hospitals is "much better" than in the hospitals run by the Centre and civic bodies.
"We're not denying anyone a bed and have made all facilities available to deal with such cases. We have opened 262 fever clinics in Delhi. Please avoid self medication and do not panic," Jain said in a press conference here.He accused the BJP-controlled civic bodies of not taking preventive steps to control the spread of vector-borne disease.Union Health Minister J.P Nadda said that Delhi Government needed to be more serious on the epidemic situation.He assured all technical help to the Delhi Government to tackle the rising cases of chikungunya and dengue. Civic bodies have put the figure of dengue, chikungunya and malaria infections at 1,158, 1,057 and 21 respectively till Sep 10.