L-G, health minister direct officials to work on a war footing

NEW DELHI: Delhi health minister and the Lieutenant Governor on Wednesday held separate meetings with senior health officials to review preparedness for preventing

NEW DELHI: Delhi health minister and the Lieutenant Governor on Wednesday held separate meetings with senior health officials to review preparedness for preventing spread of dengue and chikungunya.

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L-G Najeeb Jung appealed all to rise above political considerations to deal with vector-borne diseases which have claimed several lives this season. Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain had accused on Tuesday the L-G of “paralysing” the city’s health system by “creating” hurdles in the functioning of the AAP government.

Municipal officials told the L-G about fogging and mosquito breeding checking programmes.

But the Delhi government was not satisfied with their efforts.

“The municipal corporations have said they have been carrying out fogging aggressively since the beginning of September, but we haven’t seen it happening,” Jain said.

“We have asked the corporations to provide data on their breeding control measures. They have said that domestic breeding checkers have visited all the houses in Delhi five times. We have asked the corporations to provide the names and phone numbers of the people so we can verify,” Jain said.

The minister said the government will advertise phone numbers of the control rooms set up by the three municipal corporations. “If anyone wants to get fogging or anti-larval medicine, they must call these numbers,” the minister said.

Officials said the number of patients visiting the OPD of Delhi government hospitals, dispensaries, polyclinics and mohalla clinics have doubled – from approximately 1 lakh to 2 lakh daily.

To cope with the rush, leaves of all the doctors and medical staff have been cancelled. “We have also asked hospitals that are facing a shortage of doctors or staff, to hire them for at least two months,” said Jain.