A day after the Supreme Court asked the Delhi government to stop the blame game over outbreak of vector-borne diseases, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain met the Lieutenant-Governor on Wednesday and agreed to fight chikungunya and dengue “together”.
L-G Najeeb Jung held a meeting at Raj Niwas to review the health crisis caused by the spread of chikungunya, dengue and other vector-borne diseases in the Capital and directed government departments to intensify efforts to contain and combat them, especially in the wake of recent showers.
Weekly review
Mr. Jung also directed Health Minister Satyendar Jain to hold a weekly review to assess the situation in the presence of Mr. Kejriwal. representatives of State and central departments, civic bodies and city hospitals.
“We reviewed preparedness relating to dengue and chikungunya. Numbers of cases of these diseases have come down significantly. In the meeting, all have agreed to fight chikungunya and dengue,” Mr. Jain told reporters after the meeting at the LG Secretariat.
“The L-G shall himself be reviewing the situation again in the coming days,” said a senior government official.
Referring to the past two review meetings, held on September 14 and 26, Mr. Jung asked for feedback on directions issued by him.
Fewer patients
According to a statement issued by Raj Niwas, medical superintendents of Bara Hindu Rao, G. B. Pant, Lok Nayak and B. S. Ambedkar among others apprised Mr. Jung that the fever clinics, fever wards and other ancillary facilities were operational round-the-clock and adequate supply of testing kits and medicines were available in all hospitals.
The officials stated that the rush of fever patients has dropped by 40-50 per cent in the last few days hospitals, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation and all Commissioners of the three Municipal Corporations informed the L-G about preventive measures being taken by them to check mosquito breeding and other anti-larval measures.
The Divisional Commissioner informed the L-G that the Deputy Commissioners (Revenue) of all districts were following a roster of inspections in their districts and reports of daily inspections were being submitted to him.
He added that the reports will be made available and monitored online beginning Wednesday.
The Delhi Health Secretary informed Mr. Jung that as per reports collected till 10.30 a.m. on October 5 from hospitals 25 per cent of beds dedicated to fever patients were lying vacant.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was directed by the L-G to ensure that no water collected in their construction sites and adequate sprinkling was done to check the breeding of mosquitoes.
Mr. Jain informed the L-G that hospitals were adequately equipped to handle fever cases and currently 355 fever clinics were running seven days a week.
Before accompanying the Chief Minister to Raj Niwas, Mr. Jain met Mr. Kejriwal at his residence to brief him on the measures taken by the Health Department.
This was the first meeting between the L-G and Mr. Kejriwal in four months.
Officials say rush of fever patients has dropped by nearly 40-50 per cent in
the last few days
