Union Health Minister Dr A. Ramadoss with the Health Ministers of Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh at a meeting on dengue prevention and control at the Health Ministry in New Delhi on Thursday.
— Tribune photo by Rajeev Tyagi |
New Delhi, October 5
After sharing concern on dengue with Health Ministers from Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today reiterated that there was no need for alarm.
“We are tackling the situation and this is not an epidemic. In the next few days, we expect the situation to improve. We have assured the state Health Ministers that the Centre will help them with dengue testing kits and hospital equipment,” Mr Ramadoss said.
He said the ministry would soon list names of referral hospitals in the government sector in Delhi and other states where people could walk in for a dengue test and be treated free of cost.
He said seven deaths had been reported from Rajasthan, four each from Kerala and Uttar Pradesh and three each from Gujarat and West Bengal.
Briefing mediapersons, he claimed that the number of cases this year were much less compared to those reported last year.
The AIIMS reported that there had been an increase of 250 patients in the past 24 hours in the fever screening OPD with suspected dengue. Two more dengue deaths and 34 fresh cases had been reported in the past 24 hours. Of these, nine cases had been reported from the AIIMS campus.
AIIMS spokesperson Shakti Gupta said while 18-year-old Rahmat Ali died yesterday, 20-year-old Dharam Singh died this morning. Both were residents of Delhi.
The minister, however, was tight-lipped on the condition of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s kin. Earlier in the day, he briefed the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues on dengue and chikungunya.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting that the government was trying to reduce dengue in a manner that it does not spread.
Placing the onus of dengue prevention on the masses, Dr Ramadoss said: “Dengue is primarily a sanitation problem. It is not only the government’s responsibility. It is a collective and household responsibility. We have been advising the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on the high-density of mosquito breeding. It is going about its job satisfactorily but it is not possible for it to check every household.”
Meanwhile, the AIIMS tried to underplay the news that Dr Singh’s grandsons were being treated for dengue in the VIP ward of the institute. “We have
come to know that they are related to the Prime Minister only through the media. We are treating them as any other patients,” the AIIMS spokesperson said.
Without naming them, he said: “All three patients who are admitted to the private ward are stable. There is no cause of worry. Their platelet count is within the normal range. When they were admitted, they were suspected to be suffering from dengue but that test has not been confirmed. We are expecting a report tomorrow,” he said.
Dr P.L. Joshi, Director, National Vector Disease Control Programme, denied reports of dengue cases in Jharkhand.
He said proper surveillance, disease management and improved awareness campaign were emphasised during the meeting with the Health Ministers.
He said Haryana had asked for malathion. “We have already given temephos to Haryana for killing larvae and have placed an order for malathion. Rajasthan has asked for DDT,” he said.
