Dengue rush: Delhi moves to secure blood supply

Given the surge in the number of dengue cases, the Delhi government on Monday made it mandatory for 53 hospitals — government and private — with blood separator machines and blood banks to work round the clock to ensure a continuous supply of platelets.

Given the surge in the number of dengue cases, the Delhi government on Monday made it mandatory for 53 hospitals — government and private — with blood separator machines and blood banks to work round the clock to ensure a continuous supply of platelets.

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“The step was taken following complaints that people were having a problem in procuring platelets, a blood component that falls drastically in people with dengue,” a senior official said. Besides, eight more hospitals will provide treatment and blood collection facilities.

With a severe bed crunch at city hospitals because of the number of dengue cases, many have added extra beds. Hospitals are also admitting only those with a platelet count below 50,000.

Each year, dengue starts appearing in July, with the infection peaking in October. The Capital reported 30 new cases on Monday, taking the total number to 325 for the first fortnight of October and 455 for the year.

Among the worst-hit are areas around Delhi University in the north and Tughlakabad in the south, where breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito — which carries the infection — is shockingly high, according to spot checks by the Delhi government.

“For example, Railway Colony under the South Delhi Municipal Corporation has a breeding index as high as 10 — which means that 10 out of every 100 water samples collected and tested for mosquito larvae confirmed breeding,” said a senior health department official.