Dengue outbreak in city, civic agencies in denial

There's a dengue outbreak but civic agencies in Delhi and the NCR are in denial.

There's a dengue outbreak but civic agencies in Delhi and the NCR are in denial.

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The largest diagnostics lab in Delhi claims that 1,354 people have tested positive for dengue in just the first 11 days of September. Three private hospitals have reported five deaths due to dengue.

But Delhi's official dengue count for 2013 (till Wednesday evening) is 520 with no deaths reported so far.

Civic agencies in Noida and Gurgaon are also underplaying the numbers.

Private hospitals in Gurgaon have run out of beds due to spike in dengue cases and put the dengue count at 310, with one death.

But official count in Gurgaon stands at only 144 dengue cases and 170 malaria cases this year.

Noida has no dengue cases, according to the official count, but private hospitals are full to capacity with big hospitals confirming 20-30 fresh cases every day.

In Delhi, of the 2,820 people who tested for dengue between September 1-11, 1,354 (48%) tested positive.

"1,354 people tested positive for dengue in the first 11 days of September. With more people coming with fever and dengue symptoms, the numbers are likely to rise," said Dr Vandana Lal, executive director of Lal Path labs.

"Our lab is testing between 30 and 40 persons for dengue each day, of which about 15 test positive," said Dr Navin Dang, director of Dr Dang's Lab.

Gurgaon has 20 hospitals with a combined strength of 5,000 beds and they are running out of beds.

"Artemis has to turn away nearly 30 dengue patients each day. Despite adding beds, we cannot meet the demand," said Dr Vishal Sehgal, head of internal medicine at Artemis hospital, which has reported 125 positive cases and one death.