Ramadoss calls emergency meeting to discuss dengue outbreak

NEW DELHI: Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has called an emergency meeting at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 10 to discuss the institute's alleged failure in taking preventive measures to combat dengue.

"The minister has called an institute's body meeting. The agenda would be issued in a few days time. Many issues will be discussed, but the main focus would be on why the institute failed in taking preventive measures to contain dengue," a Health Ministry source said.

Ramadoss, who returned to Delhi this morning, will take stock of the situation.

Thirty-five people, including 18 medicos and students, are being treated at AIIMS. Eleven people, including AIIMS medical student Raj Kiran, have died in Delhi and two others in Uttar Pradesh.

The official said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had issued notice to the institute a few week ago asking why the AIIMS complex is prone to dengue and necessary steps were not taken. In 2003, AIIMS saw a similar situation.

"It is an emergency situation. AIIMS is the worst affected this year. Despite warnings, nothing was done," he said.

The dengue outbreak in the country would be declared an "epidemic" if the situation does not come under control, Delhi Health Minister Yoganand Shastri said.

The Health Ministry official said the worst affected areas in AIIMS are hostel number 4, 5 and 6.

"The students share a common bathroom and which seems to be the breeding ground for the mosquito. From here dengue is spreading to other areas," he said.

The official said after parents of Raj Kiran, a seventh semester student, and other students met AIIMS Director P Venugopal, better facilities were provided to the student leader.

A resident doctor is also in a serious condition, he said.

Around 448 cases have been reported from Delhi, which saw 121 fresh cases in the past two weeks alone. In UP, 40 suspected dengue cases have been reported. Last year, 160 cases were registered.

Director General of Health Services R K Srivastava has called a meeting tomorrow of MCD, NDMC and other health officials to assess the situation.

On Saturday, a meeting was chaired by Lt Governor B L Joshi to review the threat of dengue in the city.

Around 2,400 additional personnel are involved in fumigation and fogging drive.

Anti-dengue drive has been intensified in AIIMS to kill the dengue virus which spread by the bite of female Aedes Aegypti, which breeds in clean water collections.

The hospital has formed a fever cell consisting of four teams of seven resident doctors to tackle the crisis.

The worst dengue outbreak was seen in 1996 when over 10,000 dengue cases were reported.