JOIN USOppn questions East Corpn's official dengue figures
Questioning the data of dengue cases provided by the health department of East Delhi Municipal Corporation, the opposition councillors claimed on Thursday that east Delhi mayor Annapurna Mishra’s son is udergoing treatment for dengue in one of the MCD hospitals. But his name has not been included in the list of reported dengue cases.
“Mayor’s son Kapil Mishra has been diagnosed with dengue and he is undergoing treatment at Swami Dayanand Hospital. But the hospital authorities have not included his name in the list people infected with the vector-borne disease,” said Savita Sharma, Congress councillor from Subhash Mohalla.
Sharma raised the issue before the standing committee and produced documents – copy of prescription issued by the hospital and report of tests conducted at a private pathology lab – to prove her claims. Sharma added the issue was raised to prove that the health department’s data was not correct.
While 32 more cases of dengue were reported from across the city on Thursday, seven new cases were detected in east Delhi, taking the total number of cases in EDMC area to 59.
Till date about 313 cases has been reported in the Capital, with South Corporation contributing the maximum of 128 cases, followed by the North Corporation at 126 cases.
According to a prescription issued by Swami Dayanand Hospital on October 8, Kapil Mishra, 30, is undergoing treatment for ‘a case of dengue fever’, with platelet count at 26,000. Another test conducted at a private pathology lab, a day before, showed the platelet count at 14,000.
But Annapurna Mishra denied that his son is being treated for dengue. “He had viral infection and he has recuperated from the problem,” Mishra said.
The EDMC officials defended the health departments records. “There is not much of a difference in symptoms of any vector-borne diseases. Platelet counts go down in all the cases. As a precaution the treatment is done by classifying some cases as dengue,” said EDMC commissioner S S Yadav.
“But the department’s records reflect only those cases which have been found positive for dengue.”