The Hindu 18.07.2016
Corporations gear up for dengue with mosquito nets
From mosquito nets for patients to additional beds in
hospitals, the Capital’s municipal corporations are getting ready to
face the onslaught of dengue cases in the coming months. With monsoon
being active this past week, the expected increase in cases of the
vector-borne viral disease has made the municipalities ramp up
preparations.
Though only 39 cases of dengue have so
far been reported in the city, the number is set to rise in the next
three months as the weather gets cooler. Last year, Delhi had seen a
record-high 15,867 cases of dengue, up from 995 in 2014.
The
North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which operates two large hospitals,
will be using insecticidal mosquito nets for patients suffering from
dengue. All the three corporations are in the process of distributing
these nets, which have been made with a chemical-laced fibre that repels
mosquitoes, to vulnerable communities. In North Delhi, Mayor Dr.
Sanjeev Nayyar has directed the hospitals to give these nets to patients
as well.
“Hospitals are zero-tolerance zones, so we
cannot allow the disease to spread from a patient. The patients will be
kept under their mosquito nets till they are being treated as the virus
stays in the blood for up to one week,” said Dr. D.K. Seth, the Director
of Hospital Administration of North Corporation.
The
North Corporation’s Bara Hindu Rao Hospital and Kasturba Hospital will
both stock these nets. In addition, the civic body has stocked 15 lakh
paracetamol tablets, IV fluids, the blood bank has been augmented and
438 additional beds prepared.
The East Delhi
Municipal Corporation will also be handing out mosquito nets to
patients, spokesperson Y.S. Mann said. He added that the civic body had
distributed these nets to residents who are at risk of contracting the
disease.
While the South Delhi Municipal Corporation
does not have any major hospitals, it has ramped up inspections to curb
mosquito breeding, apart from distributing the mosquito nets.
