5 deaths, 1,000 cases; CM blames Modi

AAP govt attacks Jung, MCDs for situation; BJP wants Kejri’s resignation.

Four people died of chikungunya on Tuesday, taking the toll to five even as hospitals were crammed with patients pouring in from across the city.

The AAP government was quick to blame lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung and the civic bodies for the situation. Under fire for being unable to tackle the situation, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in Bengaluru for a throat surgery, pas-sed the buck on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the L-G, saying the Delhi government was “incapable of even buying a pen” as he and his Cabinet colleagues were “fully stripped of powers”.

The BJP launched a scathing attack against Mr Kejriwal for “failing” to address the city’s public health challenge and demanded his immediate resignation. So far the number of chikungunya cases reported has crossed the 1,000 mark this year.

According to the chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr D.S. Rana, three patients died of chikungunya on Monday at the hospital — Ramendra Pandey, Uday Shanker of Dwarka and Ashok Chauhan from Aligarh. All three were above 60 years of age.

On Tuesday, 75-year-old Prakash Kalra, who had been admitted to Sir Gan-ga Ram Hospital, died. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Isha died at Bara Hindu Rao Hospital on Tuesday.

Incidentally, a suspected chikungunya death has also been reported at the AIIMS, but hospital authorities are yet to confirm it.

A senior official of the Union health ministry, meanwhile, said that the deaths had not been ca-used by chikungunya and people were dying of comorbid conditions. “Chikungunya is not a life-threatening disease in general, but in rare cases leads to complications and other co-morbid conditions prove fatal,” he said.

Union health minister J.P. Nadda has called a review meeting on Wednesday.

Delhi’s health minister Satyendra Jain, who cut short his Goa trip to addr-ess a press conference, claimed that the national capital did not have an outbreak of chikungunya and blamed the media for spreading panic. “There has never been any death due to chikungunya in the world. This is media-created panic,” he said, asking it to be “proven medically” that four deat-hs had taken place in city in the past 24 hours as a result of chikungunya.

He added that his government was not denying beds to anyone and only 40 per cent of the beds in the city were under Delhi government’s control. According to a municipal report released on Monday, 1,057 cases of chikungunya were repor-ted till September 10.

Delhi BJP president Mr Satish Upadhyay talked to the leaders of all the three MCDs and directed the councillors, especially the chairmen of health committees, to make their best efforts in the next 72 hours for the prevention of dengue and chikungunya.

“It is a matter of grave concern that when Delhi is fighting against the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya, the Delhi government is on leave,” said Mr Upadhyay.