Reserve 10-15% beds, ensure no patient is denied admission: Delhi govt asks hospitals amid spike in dengue cases

The sharp spike in dengue cases in Delhi has rung alarm bells with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia saying today that all the city hospitals have asked by the government to reserve 10-15 per cent beds for patients of vector-borne diseases and also to ensure that no such patient is denied admission due to a lack of beds.

Seeing the low occupancy rate of the COVID-19 beds in the last few weeks, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has also asked the hospitals to use the vacant beds to accommodate dengue patients, Sisodia was quoted as saying in a statement.

The city logged 937 dengue cases this year till September-end and 321 more cases were reported in the first five days of October, taking the tally to 1,258, according to a report released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday.

"The government has put all the hospitals across the national capital on alert and is keeping an eye on the situation. Hospitals have been directed to reserve 10-15 per cent of their beds for vector-borne disease patients and ensure that no patient is denied admission due to lack of beds," the statement said.

Sisodia said the present weather conditions are conducive for the transmission of vector-borne diseases. He said the number of dengue cases has seen a sharp rise in the last two weeks but there is no need to panic as all arrangements have been put in place to provide treatment to the patients at hospitals.

The cumulative figure of dengue cases is the worst since the corresponding period in 2017, when Delhi had recorded 2,564 dengue cases - the city had registered 480 cases during the corresponding period in 2021, 316 cases in 2020, 467 cases in 2019 and 830 cases in 2018.