Dengue scare grips national capital

An AIIMS official says the situation may get worse as dengue is here to stay.

Dengue cases continued to pile up at AIIMS on Monday as the hospital authorities struggled to keep under wraps their lack of preparedness to handle the situation. The hospital has run out of blood and doctors have even started requesting patients to bring along two donors each.

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AIIMS medical superintendent Dr DK Sharma said, "We have used up 1,000 platelets - used for clotting blood - in the past two days." Blood was needed for more platelets for which AIIMS will hold a blood camp on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The situation, however, may only get worse as dengue is here to stay. Dr Sharma said dengue would stay if the weather did not change. "We are expecting the outbreak to peak in mid-October," he said. "We might see a decline only after November."

In the past 24 hours, 15 cases have been confirmed, including those of four students from the institute. This takes the number of dengue patients at AIIMS to 45.

Dr Sharma said the hospital was under pressure as "patients from satellite towns and even other hospitals in the city are being referred to us". On Monday, more than 1,000 people turned up with complaints of mild symptoms like fever.

Dr Bir Singh, professor of community medicine, AIIMS, said, "Simple dengue fever can be treated at the neighbourhood hospitals."