New Delhi: Three people have died in Delhi in the last 48 hours due to Chikungunya but the Aam Aadmi Party government is not ready to accept responsibility and instead has shifted blame on the Lieutenant Governor and Centre. This despite the health ministry falling under the purview of the state government.
Chikungunya cases in the national capital rose sharply to over a thousand this season, marking a jump of nearly 90 per cent from its count last week.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took on to Twitter to pass the buck. "Chief Minister and Ministers are left with no power now - even to buy a pen. Lieutenant Governor and Prime Minister enjoy all powers with respect to Delhi. Lieutenant Governor is abroad. Question them for Delhi," Kejriwal tweeted.
65-year-old Ramendra Pandey on Monday died of chikungunya at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, in what could be the first such death in the national capital.
The other two deaths also took place at the same hospital on Monday and both victims were aged above 60 as well, hospital authorities told PTI.
"Uday Shanker of Dwarka was admitted on September 11 and he died on September 12. His RT-PCR test for chikungunya had come positive. He had come to our OPD and then admitted.
"Ashok Chauhan, 62, from Aligarh also died of chikungunya yesterday. He too was admitted in ICU on September 11 and his RT-PCR test came positive," a senior official of the hospital said.
Pandey, who was referred from a Ghaziabad hospital, had succumbed to the disease at the hospital at 4 AM after suffering chikungunya with sepsis.
Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, who is presently in Goa, has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party run MCD for the Chikungunya deaths.
"There is a lot of influx of people in Delhi, who come from various states. So one can't say the problem is in Delhi, it could be spread from any source. We have done our best to provide more beds in hospitals and make the infrastructure better in hospitals across Delhi. But it is mainly the duty of MCD to control the spread of such diseases and clearly they are not doing anything. But nobody questions that. What are the MCD people doing? Delhi government has done the best in their abilities," Jain said.
The blamegame continues even as the death toll is on the rise.
Union Health Minister JP Nadda said AAP didn't act despite warnings. "We have given 11 advisories to the state government till now in this case. We had called a meeting with Delhi state health minister and MCD officials well in time to look into the facilities and requirement on the situation. Whatever assistance the state governments need we are ready," Nadda said.
Hitting out at Kejriwal, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "If you say you have no role as the Chief Minister of Delhi, why the paraprenelia of the CM office and the ministers and crores of rupees being spent on the MLAs. You neither resign, nor answer people's questions. You spent Rs 526 crore on advertisements, half of your ministrers are abroad or out of Delhi, where does this money come from? Whose money are you spending? You should answer people's questions democratically rather than calling them agents and dalals."
Doctors say that chikungunya is not a life-threatening disease in general, but in rare cases leads to complications that prove fatal, especially in children and old persons.
According to a municipal report released on Monday, at least 1,057 cases of this vector-borne disease have been recorded till September 10, however, hospitals in the city altogether are reporting much higher number.
Authorities at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, Pandey was kept under the care of a senior specialist in the Department of Medicine and a team of doctors from the Internal Medicine-ICU.
Lalit Dar of Department of Microbiology at AIIMS said, "At our laboratories, 1,360 chikungunya blood test samples have tested positive till yesterday. Cases are rising and more and more people are getting affected."
(With additional information from PTI)
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