The Hindu : Front Page : Two more dengue patients die at AIIMS in Delhi: toll now 18

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Friday, Oct 06, 2006
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Two more dengue patients die at AIIMS in Delhi: toll now 18

Staff Reporter

One suspected dengue death in a private hospital; hundreds line up for screening

FOR A CAUSE: People donating blood for dengue patients at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on Thursday. - PHOTO: V. V. KRISHNAN.

NEW DELHI: The dengue toll shot up to 18 here in the Capital on Thursday with the death of two more patients at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. Yet another patient died of suspected dengue at a private hospital during the day.

With 84 more patients being admitted to various hospitals during the past 24 hours with dengue symptoms, the total number of cases reported so far has gone up to 673. Of these, 409 are from Delhi and the rest from neighbouring States.

While two patients - 22-year-old Dharam Singh from Badarpur in South Delhi and 55-year-old Laxminarayan from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh -- died of dengue at AIIMS on Thursday, another cases of death due to suspected dengue was reported from Sunder Lal Jain Hospital. The victim in this case was Ritika Singh, a teacher of Queen Mary's School, Model Town, and a resident of Rohini.

The fresh dengue cases have further fuelled the panic associated with the spread of the disease caused by aedes mosquito bite. Over 1,000 patients have been screened for the disease at AIIMS during the past 24 hours. People are also lining up for screening at various other hospitals across the Capital, all of which have reported an increased intake of patients with dengue in the past 48 hours.

``In the past 24 hours at least 1,000 patients were screened for dengue of whom 34 were admitted to AIIMS, including nine from the campus. Two patients -- Dharam Singh from Badarpur in South Delhi and Laxminarayan from Bulandshahr in UP -- died at AIIMS of dengue on Thursday. At present 99 patients are admitted in the hospital of whom 26 are from the campus and five patients have been discharged in the last 24 hours. Also over 100 people donated blood today,'' said AIIMS Medical Superintendent Dr. D. K. Sharma in the evening.

He added that the patients who died on Thursday were admitted to AIIMS earlier in the morning in a serious condition.

Speaking about the contingency measures to accommodate the additional patients due to dengue, Dr. Sharma said: ``Our casualty services are equipped to cope with the increased load of patients. We have also taken a decision to curtail admissions to accommodate dengue patients. The fever screening clinic area has been enhanced by also utilising the attendants' waiting area and makeshift arrangements using tents have been made for creating a waiting area for attendants of patients. We are organising a public lecture on dengue on Friday and have brought out a booklet on dengue for public education.''

Also, the Institute has put in place an e-mail service -- dengueprevention@gmail.com -- for patients to clear their doubts about dengue. Patients and the public will be able to interact with the Institute through this service. The Institute will also open a help line for the public to control the patient load coming to the hospital with "fever" and suspected dengue.

The AIIMS authorities also said that the dengue scare had led to a large number of patients with dengue symptoms queuing up at the Institute and this had led to chaos on the campus. They also said that there was no shortage of blood at the Institute and that blood donation camps were being organised to keep the blood banks adequately stocked. Meanwhile, the worst hit zones in the city continue to be Najafgarh (58 dengue cases so far), Shahdara North (50), Karol Bagh (46) and Central (40).

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