Delhi govt allows hospitals to increase beds to tackle dengue outbreak

In a bid to tackle Dengue and Chikungunya cases in the city, the Delhi government on Friday announced that all hospitals and nursing homes here have been permitted to increase their bed capacity up to 20 per cent. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the move will add a minimum of 4,000 extra beds across the city.

"I have permitted all Delhi hospitals, including government and private, to increase the number of beds by 10 to 20 per cent of their existing capacity. There are about 10,000 beds in Delhi government hospitals. We had put extra beds last year as well. This time too, we will add more beds if needed," Jain said, adding, that the focus would be more on preventive measures.

At least 36 persons had died due to chikungunya and dengue last year.

The Arvind Kejriwal government had received flak after one of the worst outbreaks of chikungunya in the city, with a total of 12,221

cases reported till December 24, 2016 of which 9,749 were confirmed cases.

Jain said 50 cases of dengue and 105 of Chikungunya were reported in the city between January and June, adding that the government was fully prepared to deal with vector-borne diseases.

He added that the government had also issued instructions to chemists/pharmacists not to sell blood thinning tablets like Brufen and Aspirin without medical prescriptions as these tablets reduce blood platelet count.