Ramadoss in fever pitch
After fixing an emergency meeting on October 10 to discuss the dengue attack on the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the Union health minister Ambumani Ramadoss on Tuesday amended his flawed sense of emergency by calling a meeting...
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: After fixing an emergency meeting on October 10 to discuss the dengue attack on the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the Union health minister Ambumani Ramadoss on Tuesday amended his flawed sense of emergency by calling a meeting on October 5 of the health ministers of four affected north Indian states.
At the same time the minister appealed to the people not to panic and assured them that the situation was under control even as the Delhi state government said there was no need to declare it as epidemic as of now.
“I am meeting the health ministers of Delhi, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan on Thursday. We will discuss steps for preventing its spread,” Mr Ramadoss said. “There is no need for panic. It is not an epidemic. Things are under control. There is a need for awareness,” he added.
Mr Ramadoss said the total number of dengue cases is 497 till this afternoon, but added that the number could go up by this evening as the director general of health services RK Srivastava is holding a review meeting with the MCD, NDMC and health officials.
He expressed satisfaction over the manner in which the Delhi Government was trying to contain the situation and said his ministry was providing enough medication and chemicals to all affected states.
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He termed the situation at AIIMS as “unfortunate” where one of its seventh semester students died last week of Dengue.“It is very unfortunate. But they are doing their best. It is only a referral hospital, but people who have fever are walking in for admission. This creates lot of backlog,” he said.
Mr Ramadoss said he had spoken to AIIMS authorities to fix responsibility on those who failed to take preventive measures in stopping mosquito breeding in the campus. “No action has been taken against anyone. I have asked the administration to fix responsibility. And whoever is responsible should be penalised,” the minister said.
Out of the 46 patients in AIIMS, who are receiving treatment for dengue, 16 are from its campus, while 30 are outsiders. Mr Ramadoss added that for the past six months the ministry has been periodically advising all the authorities about sanitation and preventing mosquito breeding.
Meanwhile, the Delhi state government today refused to push the panic button and said there was no need to declare it an epidemic as of now.
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Taking stock of the situation, a Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Sheila Dikshit today decided to intensify the anti-dengue drive, including issuing instructions to schools and asking every minister to ensure the disease does not spread in their respective areas.
“There is no need to panic and we are not declaring it an epidemic yet”, health minister Yoganand Shastri told reporters after the meeting.
He said the number of dengue cases reported has come down as compared to the last few days, however, adding that the disease was still spreading very fast in the capital. He said while 497 cases of dengue have been reported so far, the number of deaths due to the disease stood at 11.
“There is no need to panic and we are not declaring it an epidemic yet”, health minister Yoganand Shastri told reporters after the meeting.
He said the number of dengue cases reported has come down as compared to the last few days, however, adding that the disease was still spreading very fast in the capital. He said while 497 cases of dengue have been reported so far, the number of deaths due to the disease stood at 11.
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