MCD in denial mode, says dengue cases few this time

While private hospitals continue to report a high number of dengue cases, the civic agency keeping count of the infected insists that the infection rate is low this season.

While private hospitals continue to report a high number of dengue cases, the civic agency keeping count of the infected insists that the infection rate is low this season.The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has so far reported only 479 cases, which is less than one-sixth of the cases reported by big private hospitals in the city.Together, 10 big private hospitals including Max Hospitals, Gangaram hospital, Apollo, BLK hospital, to name a few, have reported over 1,500 cases.And this is not even the complete picture, as there are at least 40 smaller private hospitals, 50 nursing homes and close to 40 government and civic agency hospitals across the Capital that are treating dengue patients. MCD officials say that the disease is being over diagnosed as even low platelet count is being categorised as positive dengue cases.Like all previous years, MCD officials argue that most of the private hospitals are not performing the mandatory IgM Capture Elisa test.“As per government of rules, a case is considered if the IgM serology report is positive. Most of the hospitals are sending us reports based on the rapid kit and NS1 test. But we can’t count them as dengue cases,” said Dr NK Yadav, municipal health officer.