Dengue stings: 1919 new cases in 1 week; total nearly 3,800
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and the state government on a PIL accusing the AAP government and MCDs of not acting vigilantly and responsibly to control dengue, a mosquito-borne tropical disease.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Congress leader Ajay Maken in the wake of dengue deaths and cases in the national capital.
A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath sought the response from the Centre, Delhi government and municipal corporations of Delhi by September 24 and tagged the plea with other similar matter.
In the PIL, Maken said the Delhi government failed to initiate awareness campaigns and an outbreak alarm was raised only after dengue fatalities were reported, which is otherwise not a life-threatening disease.
It said the Delhi government allocated approximately Rs.81 crore towards malaria and dengue control programmes. However, it did not bother to release the funds to the MCDs. Citing lack of funds as an alibi for their gross failure in controlling dengue outbreak, these agencies rendered the general public completely helpless, the petition said.
“There is lack of coordination and unpreparedness on part of the Delhi government, central government and also the municipal authorities in Delhi in addressing and controlling the unprecedented outbreak of dengue and the deteriorating public health in the city,” said the plea.
It said all hospitals – private and public – should be directed not to refuse any patients on account of monetary conditions or any other reason and in case of misconduct of hospitals or refusal to admit patients, heavy penalty must be imposed by the court.
The MCDs should be directed to urgently undertake special fumigation and sanitation drives and anti-mosquito breeding operations in their respective areas, said the PIL, adding the central government should be directed to depute more doctors in the national capital from the central pool.
Acting on a different PIL, the court had sought a status report by September 24 from the central and Delhi governments on the steps taken to control the dengue menace.
With over 1,900 fresh dengue cases and 12 deaths reported in the last one week, the total number of people suffering from the vector-borne fever has climbed to 3,791.
The official death toll, according to a municipal report released on Monday has shot up to 17, even though unofficially the figure stands at over 20. The latest victim of dengue was a 36-year-old woman from east Delhi who passed away last night at a private hospital here.
Out of the total number of cases reported till September 19, at least 2,960 of them were recorded this month only.
Till September 12, at least 1,872 cases and five official deaths due to dengue were reported.
The 1,919 new cases thus mark a rise of over 102 per cent in the last one week though the Delhi government claims that the health situation in response to the vector-borne disease has “improved”.
“Now the health situation is better and we are winning the battle against dengue as the situation is improving,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday said. In 2010, as many as 6,259 total cases were recorded and only eight deaths were officially reported throughout the year.
However, till September 19, 2010, the corresponding number of total cases was 2,728, more than a thousand less than reported during the same period this year. In the same duration, 75 cases were registered in 2014 while in 2013 it stood at 1,355. Over 30 cases were recorded in 2012 while 2011 saw 189 cases.
Out of the total cases, north Delhi recorded the highest at 1,293, south Delhi at 1,074 while east Delhi posted the lowest with 393 cases. Of all civic zones in the city, Rohini Zone of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) has recorded the highest number with 291 cases.
(Agencies)