CM, Jung review steps to fight chikungunya

Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Wednesday held a rare meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal discussing chikungunya and dengue, which have assumed an epidemic-like situation in Delhi.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had directed Jung to hold a meeting to discuss issues related to vector-borne diseases in the city.

During the review meeting on Wednesday, Jung asked the chief minister to ensure weekly monitoring of the situation of vector-borne diseases in the city by Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

There has been an increase of nearly 1,600 more chikungunya cases in the past one week across the city, according to a weekly municipal report released on Monday.

So far, vector-borne diseases have claimed 40 lives in Delhi this season — 18 people died of chikungunya, 17 succumbed to dengue, and malaria claimed five lives.

Jung also directed the civic agencies and the Delhi government’s health department to intensify efforts to check the breeding of mosquitoes in the wake of recent rain in the city.

The medical superintendents of major hospitals told the lieutenant governor that “the fever clinics and fever wards are operational round the clock and there is adequate supply of testing kits and medicines at the hospitals”.

“They also said that the rush of fever patients has come down by 40 to 50% in the last few days. This is a general trend across all hospitals,” said Raj Niwas in a statement.

Jung had directed the civic agencies concerned to lift garbage twice a day during the last review meeting that took place on September 26.

On Wednesday, chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Council and the three municipal commissioners told the lieutenant governor that the civic agencies have been taking anti-larval measures to check the breeding of mosquitoes.

“The health secretary informed the lieutenant governor that 25% beds dedicated to fever patients are lying vacant as per the reports collected at 10.30 am on October 5 from across hospitals,” the statement said. The meeting ended with the lieutenant governor insisting on making the awareness programme more robust since mosquito breeding has still not abated.