NEW DELHI: A 67-year-old man succumbed to dengue at LNJP Hospital in central Delhi last week, the hospital said on Sunday.
While the hospital refused to release the name of the patient, according to information provided by them, the patient was a resident of Delhi. Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), however, has said that their death review committee is yet to ascertain the cause of death.
“The patient had pre-existing medical conditions and was admitted to the hospital for treatment,” the hospital said.
An MCD official said: “We got the information that a male patient suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was admitted to LNJP Hospital, but our death review committee is yet to verify the exact reason for the death. We will give confirmation only after that,” the official said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor on Sunday said both the Delhi BJP and the Leader of Opposition in the MCD, Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh have been continuously drawing mayor Shelly Oberoi’s attention to the rising menace of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria and chikungunya.
“We have been urging her to intensify the anti-mosquito campaign, but the mayor has paid no heed. Despite increasing rain, waterlogging and filth, the mayor has completely neglected the campaign, focusing only on statements, which has led to a severe deterioration of the situation in Delhi. Not just that, they are even hiding figures of dengue cases to keep the public in the dark, something which has never happened,” Kapoor claimed.
Kapoor said dengue and malaria cases were rising rapidly, and Delhi saw its first dengue death on Friday at LNJP Hospital. He added that MCD’s negligence was responsible for this and the mayor should come forward, take responsibility and resign. AAP did not comment of the matter.
Till last week, MCD had reported over 610 cases. Last year, till Aug 7, the number of cases were 348. However, the number suddenly soared, and till Sept 22, 2023, there were 3,013 cases reported by MCD.
The civic body also reported one dengue death on the same day last year.
The civic body said it had done drives and even taken action in many cases. “Earlier, we carried out an intensive drive in educational institutions and issued several challans…. During the dive in the first week of Sept, we engaged 5,000 staff to visit all MCD, Delhi govt hospitals and healthcare centres,” an official said.
