Despite enduring a deadly season of dengue last year, the city’s medical institutions seem to have not learned their lesson.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has issued over 1,300 notices to various establishments — including AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and the Delhi High Court — after breeding of mosquitoes were found in their premises.
The NDMC had issued similar notices to AIIMS and Safdarjung last year too. It had warned the institutions that they were putting the health of staff and patients at risk.
Residents worried
Meanwhile, doctors at AIIMS are crying for help to clear stagnant rain and sewer water that has stayed collected around their residence for several days now.
With mosquitoes breeding in the water around the hostel and its basement, the residents are afraid that they are at the brink of an outbreak of water-borne diseases and dengue.
A resident doctor from AIIMS hostel at Masjid Moth (hostel number 2) said: “The stagnant water is a clear health hazard, however, nothing has been done so far. We dread to think what awaits us when monsoon season actually hits the city. We can’t prevent disease by just talking about it. The authorities have to ensure that basic cleanliness is maintained and that staff is given a clean place to stay. We cannot wait for a major outbreak to illicit a react.”
While the NDMC had maintained that mosquito breeding was spotted at several areas within the campus of AIIMS and that despite being issued several notices, the administration has failed to take preventive measures to check breeding of mosquitoes, the hospital administration had claimed that they were cleaning up the premises and ensuring zero breeding.
According to municipal reports, at least 28 cases of dengue have been reported in the Capital so far, including 15 cases in June. May witnessed six cases of the vector-borne disease.
Last year, the city saw a staggering 15,867 dengue cases — the worst in 20 years — even as the disease claimed 60 lives.
