While the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government and the BJP-ruled municipal corporations blamed each other for the rise in the number of vector-borne diseases in the national capital, Delhi hospitals witnessed at least four more deaths due to complications arising from chikungunya, taking the total number of deaths to five.
While 75-year-old Prakash Kalra from Mathura died at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Tuesday, Ashok Chauhan (62) and Uday Shanaker (61) died on September 12. Ghaziabad resident R.Pandey (65) had died on September 11, and 22-year-old girl Isha had succumbed to the disease at Bara Hindu Rao Hospital on September 1, officials said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in Bengaluru for a throat surgery, blamed the BJP-led central government and Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung for the health crisis.
Kejriwal tweets
“Your concern is not Delhi. Your concern is that we are winning other States and defeating the (Opposition) BJP,’’ Mr. Kejriwal tweeted in response to criticism that he and his Ministers were away from Delhi.
“The CM and Ministers are left with no power now, even to buy a pen. The Lieutenant Governor and the PM enjoy all powers. With regard to Delhi, the L-G is abroad, question him about [the chikunguniya situation in] Delhi,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Data from the municipal corporation shows dengue, chikungunya and malaria have so far affected 1,158, 1,057 and 21 people respectively. The doctors at government hospitals, however, believe that the numbers given by the three municipal bodies were misleading and constrained as there was an acute shortage of beds due to the large number of cases coming in with dengue and chikungunya.
Three of Delhi’s 45 government hospitals have reported more chikunguya cases than the civic bodies, which update the data every Monday. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences confirmed more than 900 chikungunya cases, Safdarjung Hospital recorded 531 cases, and the Lok Nayak Hospital had 281 cases.
