Getting ready for the monsoon and the spike in cases of vector-borne diseases that come with it, the Delhi government has issued approval for government and private hospitals to increase the number of beds by up to 20%.
With dengue, chikungunya and malaria cases expected to increase during and right after the rainy season, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Friday that hospitals and nursing homes would be allowed to increase the number of beds for the next six months. He said this move would lead to at least 2,000 additional beds being added to city hospitals. So far, he said that Delhi had seen 50 cases of dengue and 105 of cases of chikungunya.
The Health Department had also ordered that medicines like Brufen taken by fever patients shouldn’t be sold without prescriptions for the next two months as they tend to thin the blood and can be dangerous for dengue patients, he said.
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He added that the government would launch a “huge awareness drive”, with 2,000 hoardings and advertisements at metro stations and train coaches, and radio and print advertisements.