As dengue deaths rise, MCDs continue to under-report

While the Capital has recorded over half dozen dengue deaths last week alone, the three MCDs are still singing the same song. According to <g data-gr-id="30">MCD’s</g> dengue report this week, no new death due to mosquito-borne disease has been reported. But reports from government and private hospitals have revealed that the data released is far from the reality and are grossly under-reported. Till now, the death toll has risen over 34 while the Municipal Corporations claim that only 17 deaths with 5,982 dengue cases have been registered so far.

Crying foul, Opposition leaders said that the reports are hugely under-reported. North Corporation’s Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel said: “They are purposely misreporting facts and under-reporting death cases. The numbers of deaths are double of what MCDs are representing. Reports from <g data-gr-id="34">MCD’s</g> Hindu Rao hospital claim that there were three deaths last week while MCD says there were none. The Corporations are only bluffing the people of Delhi by under-reporting facts.”

Last week, the deadly vector-borne disease claimed three more lives at RML hospital pushing the toll to 34. The hospital has recorded a total number of eight deaths due to dengue this year. The latest victims were two girls — Nazreen (8) and Priyanka (18) who died last Wednesday and a 38-year old youth, Sonu, on Thursday. On Sunday, the AIIMS reported three cases of dengue deaths. “Three deaths have taken place in the past 24 hours, which includes a 78-year-old male and two females. A total of six dengue deaths have occurred so far at AIIMS,” said a source.

But the MCDs ‘updated’ figure fails to feature any new death report. According to officials, nine deaths have been recorded from North MCD areas, six from South and two from the East Corporation areas. Najafgarh reported the highest number of cases at 235 this week. The numbers of cases <g data-gr-id="38">has</g> soared to as high as 5,982 and are likely to break the record of <g data-gr-id="39">year</g> 2010, which was 6,259 in the entire year. 

“The toll is the same. Experts who tally the <g data-gr-id="31">MCD’s</g> data take the information from all government hospitals and then reach a certain conclusion. So there is no way that the reports are in anyway mended with. Dengue cases have certainly risen, especially in North (Delhi), but the death count remains the same,” said an official.