Govt, civic bodies looked the other way as dengue spread across Delhi

The spreading dengue menace in the city is a story of how the state administration and civic agencies deliberately ignored the approaching danger and allowed the disease to take the form of an endemic.

The disease first sent the alarm bells ringing when on 10 August the national capital recorded 18 confirmed cases of dengue. This was in contrast to the 11 cases reported in the entire month of July. 

The disease, caused by the Aedes mosquito, has since then spread at exponential rates. According to the latest report released by the nodal agency for dengue and malaria on 3 October, 433 confirmed cases of dengue were reported in just three days which has become a record in the city pushing the total number of cases this year to 2,557.

‘The figures don’t show the exact number of dengue cases in the city but are just reflective of the trend of the disease. The figures only give us an idea about the rate at which the disease is spreading. The actual number of dengue cases may be many times higher than because this is only the sum total of the cases registered at the 33 sentinel hospitals,’ said Mayank Sharma, additional commissioner of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which has registered the maximum number of dengue cases.

According to the dengue report released on 10 August, the disease was confined to outer areas of Delhi — Rohini (six cases) and Narela (eight cases). Apart from this, two cases were reported from Shahdara North in east Delhi and one case each was reported from Najafgarh, Pahargunj and New Delhi Municipal Council areas. A majority of the areas in the city — east Delhi, central Delhi, south Delhi, west Delhi, Karol Bagh, Walled City, Civil Lines, Delhi Cant  and Railway areas where the disease is on its peak had not registered even a single case of dengue till then.

However, by this time health experts had already cautioned against the spread of the disease due to four reasons — long monsoon season, above average rainfall, persistent moderate temperature at around 30 degree Celsius and the fourth year for the dengue virus when its intensity reaches the maximum.

But the apathy of the health department of civic bodies and city government towards the menace could be well assessed from the fact that the recent report shows the disease has taken the form of endemic in the city.

‘The negligence and callousness of the administration can be gauged from the fact that the entire city is under the grip of the disease and over one dozen persons have died so far which are just three according to government records,’ said Mukesh Goel, senior Congress leader who is also leader of opposition in North DMC.

‘The government is not extending any kind of assistance to us. We have diverted all our funds to fight the menace of dengue. They have cut our budget on sanitation and have held a major portion of the approved amount,’ alleged Rajesh Gehlot, chairman of standing committee in South DMC.

‘Besides fumigation to control mosquito breeding we have also arranged mobile dispensaries for patients,’ Gehlot added.

The nodal agency for dengue in the city has recorded only three deaths so far but major private hospitals have reported over 16 deaths. 

The private hospitals include — Moolchand (2), Medanta (4), Ganga Ram (1), Apollo (2) and Holy Family (7) deaths.

These hospitals have collectively registered over 2,000 confirmed dengue cases which were never reported to the nodal agency for dengue as they are not sentinel hospitals. Similarly, patients going to smaller private hospitals and clinics were never recorded.