When hospitals breed mosquitoes

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) serving notices to hospitals every monsoon is not a new occurrence. And, this year is no different. Four major government hospitals -- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohiya (RML) Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College -- were challaned recently for their lax approach towards the notices issued by the civic body on the heavy breeding of mosquitoes in their premises.

Last year, the Capital witnessed six deaths and over 5000 dengue cases, but it seems the hospitals are not
perturbed much. Or else, one would expect AIIMS to have responded to those 22 notices and two challans served to them in the last seven months. Similarly, Safdarjung and RML should have also taken action on the notices.

The former was served 18 notices and the latter six. Even Lady Hardinge Medical College should have prevented the hospital from becoming a haven for aedes and ano-pheles mosquitoes that cause dengue and malaria respectively.

“We conduct inspection throughout the year. But frequency is increased during monsoons. During inspection in all these hospitals, we found various sites conducive for mosquito breeding,” says Dr
RN Singh, Chief Medical Officer (Public Health), NDMC.

“We have found larvae of dengue mosquito. Therefore, after issuing notices to them several times and asking them to take preventive measures, we had to finally issue challans,” says Singh.

He doesn’t deny the fact that it is a problem each year. On enquiry regarding the lackadaisical approach of the hospital authorities in dealing with the issue, Singh says, “Civic bodies alone cannot handle the problem.”
On the  other hand,  Dr PK  Sharma, Chief Medical Officer, NDMC is of the opinion that the problem of vector-borne diseases will persist as it is “man-made”. “Construction, maintenance and digging will never stop. As a result, water will accumulate and mosquitoes will breed in stagnant water.”

According to him, civic bodies can only help in minimising the cases of malaria, dengue and chikanguniya caused due to mosquito bite. “Through regular inspections, fogging and spraying of chemicals, we try to control mosquito breeding. But the hospital authorities also need to take some responsibility.  It is the responsibility of the nodal officer in each hospital to work in coordination with civic body officials,” says Sharma.

Undoubtedly, issuing challans hints at the lack of cooperation between hospitals and NDMC.  But Sharma, talking in particular about AIIMS, says, “The hospital has a committee which has been looking into the issue.
No case of dengue has been reported so far and everything is under control.”

Though no case has been reported from NDMC area, 16 cases of the mosquito-borne disease has been
reported by the North, South and East Municipal Corporations.

 When Metrolife tried to contact Safdarjung and AIIMS hospitals, no officials were available for comment.