CATC vans to carry dengue patients

Centralised Accidents and Trauma Services ambulances were asked to ferry dengue patients to nearest hospitals.

The Delhi government on Thursday asked the fleet of ambulances of Centralised Accidents and Trauma Services (CATS) to ferry the patients of hemorrhagic dengue fever to the nearest hospitals.

The ambulances, in routine course, are used to carry accident and trauma cases to the emergency section of the city hospitals.

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Issuing the direction, Health Minister Yoganand Shastri said: "The patients of dengue in the case of hemorrhage and shock due to dengue may take the services of CATS ambulances free of cost to reach the hospitals. We want the treatment of such cases to begin as early as possible."

To give a temporary respite to the people from challans issued by the MCD for breeding mosquitoes, the minister informed that no such challans would be issued by the civic body upto Sunday. "The citizens should, however, remain on guard to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes not only in their house but also in their neighborhood," Shastri added.

In a meeting of the Health Department on "Water and Vector borne diseases", officials informed that the cases are on decline following intensive campaign and awareness amongst the people.

"A lot of people are visiting the hospitals even if they have mild fever. This has led to overcrowding in certain hospitals," an official, who did not want to be quoted, said. The official said that the relatives of patients with mild fever are pressurising the hospital staff to admit such cases. "We are now educating the panic stricken relatives and patients that all fever is not dengue," the official added.