Urban News

Hindustan Times 16.08.2010

Jamia Nagar, home to five lakh people in South-East Delhi reports more than 40 cases of dengue every day, which is twice the number that Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) records from across the Capital. Local hospitals receive more than 100 suspected cases of dengue daily from six areas that

form Jamia Nagar- Batla house, Abul Fazal Enclave, Shaheen Baagh, Zakir Nagar, Jauhri Farm and Noor Nagar - and the adjacent areas such as Nai Basti and Joga Bai extension.

Doctors at the two hospitals — Holy family and Maxfort —claim that the civic agency responsible for recording the data is grossly understating the numbers. “Out of every 10 suspected dengue cases that come to our casualty ward, eight are confirmed cases of dengue,” said Dr Shamshir Akhtar, a senior doctor at Maxfort.

The situation is worse at the Holy Family hospital. They have  run out of beds to accommodate more dengue patients and have put up a signage indicating the same. They are referring patients to  hospitals such as Apollo and Batra.

“We had to add 20 more beds to the medicine ward. Out of which 25 are occupied by dengue patients. Even in the casualty ward we get 50 suspected cases a day,” said Dr Sanjeev Kumar, senior resident at the hospital’s medicine ward.

“We can't get the exact figures, as not everyone agrees to undergo the test, owing to its high cost,” said Dr Akhtar.

“Two of my children are down with dengue. It is expensive for us as there is no government hospital in the vicinity and private labs charge around R 1,000,” said Mansoor Ahmad, a resident of Abu Fazal enclave.

The residents allege gross neglect by the civic agency as a cause for the outbreak of the disease in the area. Trashing MCD’s claim that six vehicle-mounted fogging machines have been assigned for Jamia Nagar since the time more cases started coming from the area, the residents allege they never saw an MCD worker.

“I have just read it in papers. In last two months I haven't seen a single fogging machine in the area,” said Fahad Pasha, 24, a resident of Abu Fazal Enclave-II, who is recovering from dengue.

The civic agency blames rampant illegal construction in the area for large scale breeding found of dengue and other disease-causing mosquitoes.

“We on our part are doing our best to control the spread of the disease,” said NK Yadav, medical health officer, MCD.