Three-year-old Arsalal Khan lies half asleep in the general ward of Al Shifa hospital in Abul Fazal enclave of Jamia Nagar. His father Wasir got him admitted with high fever. He feared it could be dengue.
“I didn’t want to take him to any clinic in my locality. When I took my dengue infected sister-in-law to some clinic, her platelets went down to 10,000 and the situation went out of control. Arsalal’s current platelet count is between 64,000 and 65,000 and his condition is thankfully stable till now,” says Wasir.
A resident of Shaheen Bagh, Wasir says the building in which he stays is under construction and might be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. His wife Mahida is also suffering from dengue and is currently admitted at the Apollo Hospital.
“No one in my family has ever suffered from dengue earlier,” he says. Like Wasir, Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan also has a family member suffering from dengue and its aftermath. Among the four dengue deaths in his family, he most recently lost his 14-year-old nephew.
“I have been complaining about dengue cases in my area for a very long time. Despite meeting Puneet Kumar Goel, commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, repeatedly for 15-20 days, not much has been done about sufficient fogging in the area,” he says.
“Of the Rs 10 lakh that were allocated for fogging, only Rs 3.9 lakh have been released. The area to be covered is huge and there has been very less support from the MCD,” complains Khan. Dengue strikes almost every year in Okhla, residents say. According to Khan, most dengue deaths have been reported from Shaheen Bagh and Abu Fazal enclave.
The Al Shifa hospital has been receiving 65 to 70 fever patients daily, mostly males and children, according to a senior official. Around 150 to 200 patients are reported to have been found positive in the NS1 (non-structural protein 1) antigen test, a test for dengue.
The hospital sees patients from the nearby localities, some of which are not aware of bigger hospitals like Holy Family Hosptial on Okhla road.
Irshad Ayyub, 24, stays alone in a room on the second floor of a building in C-block of Abu Fazal enclave. Hailing from Bihar, Ayyub has been a resident of Delhi only for the past 10 months and is now a victim of dengue.
“Last Saturday (September 10), around 12 am I had 106 degree fever. It was 2 am and my fever didn’t drop a bit. My friends were all out because of Bakrid celebrations. So I walked down to this hospital, where they gave me an injection and some medicines,” says Ayyub.
Despite medications, Ayyub’s fever didn’t go down and he got himself admitted at the hospital on Wednesday night. His current platelet count is 20,000, and he hopes to get well.
The room where he lives, he says is “fine and well ventilated”. He sometimes cooks for himself and often relies on the nearby dhaba for meals. However, the huge heaps of garbage behind his building and his street which is “not regularly cleaned” are a matter of concern for him. Fogging, he says, has been done only once in the area so far.
“When I heard of dengue spreading in the city, I tried being very cautious and used mosquito repellent and nets every day. A lot of my friends have now left the city after suffering from dengue, because Delhi mei koi kisi se matlab nahi rakhta.” Nobody cares for anyone else in this city, says Ayyub, who came to Delhi to prepare for the civil services exam.
The road to Al Shifa hospital is through Shaheen Bagh, a locality which has dumping grounds after every 500 metres. There are vast areas of stagnant water, and under-construction and demolished buildings dot the place.
Batla House
Ten minutes from Shaheen Bagh is the Batla area which has numerous small clinics catering to fever, dengue and chikungunya patients. One such clinic is Mumtaz Clinic. About a dozen patients are on drip, receiving saline fluids, on the benches installed there. Dr Ziaul Abidin attends to visiting patients. Those already admitted there patients lie in pain.
Chikungunya-infected Mohammad Rashid, 22, has been admitted at the clinic for a week now. While his parents caught the fever and recovered, the Jamia Millia Islamia student still suffers.
“My father got me here because this clinic is comparatively cleaner. Also, medicines which are prescribed by other clinics in the area have not been very effective on me,” says Rashid.
He stays in Batla House in an apartment on the first floor. A factory and a pool of stagnant water behind his house could be the areas of mosquito breeding, he says. “To prevent mosquitoes entering our house, we burn egg crates regularly. But it has been unsuccessful.”
Struggling with a stomach ache, finds it difficult to eat or drink, but feels better after a week at the clinic. He hopes to be back home soon.
“I didn’t want to take him to any clinic in my locality. When I took my dengue infected sister-in-law to some clinic, her platelets went down to 10,000 and the situation went out of control. Arsalal’s current platelet count is between 64,000 and 65,000 and his condition is thankfully stable till now,” says Wasir.
A resident of Shaheen Bagh, Wasir says the building in which he stays is under construction and might be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. His wife Mahida is also suffering from dengue and is currently admitted at the Apollo Hospital.
“No one in my family has ever suffered from dengue earlier,” he says. Like Wasir, Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan also has a family member suffering from dengue and its aftermath. Among the four dengue deaths in his family, he most recently lost his 14-year-old nephew.
“I have been complaining about dengue cases in my area for a very long time. Despite meeting Puneet Kumar Goel, commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, repeatedly for 15-20 days, not much has been done about sufficient fogging in the area,” he says.
“Of the Rs 10 lakh that were allocated for fogging, only Rs 3.9 lakh have been released. The area to be covered is huge and there has been very less support from the MCD,” complains Khan. Dengue strikes almost every year in Okhla, residents say. According to Khan, most dengue deaths have been reported from Shaheen Bagh and Abu Fazal enclave.
The Al Shifa hospital has been receiving 65 to 70 fever patients daily, mostly males and children, according to a senior official. Around 150 to 200 patients are reported to have been found positive in the NS1 (non-structural protein 1) antigen test, a test for dengue.
The hospital sees patients from the nearby localities, some of which are not aware of bigger hospitals like Holy Family Hosptial on Okhla road.
Irshad Ayyub, 24, stays alone in a room on the second floor of a building in C-block of Abu Fazal enclave. Hailing from Bihar, Ayyub has been a resident of Delhi only for the past 10 months and is now a victim of dengue.
“Last Saturday (September 10), around 12 am I had 106 degree fever. It was 2 am and my fever didn’t drop a bit. My friends were all out because of Bakrid celebrations. So I walked down to this hospital, where they gave me an injection and some medicines,” says Ayyub.
Despite medications, Ayyub’s fever didn’t go down and he got himself admitted at the hospital on Wednesday night. His current platelet count is 20,000, and he hopes to get well.
The room where he lives, he says is “fine and well ventilated”. He sometimes cooks for himself and often relies on the nearby dhaba for meals. However, the huge heaps of garbage behind his building and his street which is “not regularly cleaned” are a matter of concern for him. Fogging, he says, has been done only once in the area so far.
“When I heard of dengue spreading in the city, I tried being very cautious and used mosquito repellent and nets every day. A lot of my friends have now left the city after suffering from dengue, because Delhi mei koi kisi se matlab nahi rakhta.” Nobody cares for anyone else in this city, says Ayyub, who came to Delhi to prepare for the civil services exam.
The road to Al Shifa hospital is through Shaheen Bagh, a locality which has dumping grounds after every 500 metres. There are vast areas of stagnant water, and under-construction and demolished buildings dot the place.
Batla House
Ten minutes from Shaheen Bagh is the Batla area which has numerous small clinics catering to fever, dengue and chikungunya patients. One such clinic is Mumtaz Clinic. About a dozen patients are on drip, receiving saline fluids, on the benches installed there. Dr Ziaul Abidin attends to visiting patients. Those already admitted there patients lie in pain.
Chikungunya-infected Mohammad Rashid, 22, has been admitted at the clinic for a week now. While his parents caught the fever and recovered, the Jamia Millia Islamia student still suffers.
“My father got me here because this clinic is comparatively cleaner. Also, medicines which are prescribed by other clinics in the area have not been very effective on me,” says Rashid.
He stays in Batla House in an apartment on the first floor. A factory and a pool of stagnant water behind his house could be the areas of mosquito breeding, he says. “To prevent mosquitoes entering our house, we burn egg crates regularly. But it has been unsuccessful.”
Struggling with a stomach ache, finds it difficult to eat or drink, but feels better after a week at the clinic. He hopes to be back home soon.