Delhi govt orders probe into chikungunya deaths

Delhi government today ordered a probe into the chikungunya deaths reported in the national capital in the last two days.

Four elderly persons have succumbed to this vector-borne disease at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here while a 22-year-old girl also died at Hindu Rao Hospital after suffering cardiac arrest due to complications triggered by chikungunya.

"4 Deaths due to Chikungunya reported from one pvt hospital (Ganga Ram). No death in any Delhi govt hospital. Enquiry ordered," Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain tweeted tonight.

Jain today returned to Delhi from Goa, where he was campaigning for AAP.

"Medically, there is no death due to chikungunya, but media is showing deaths due to this disease. I want to make it clear that chikungunya is not fatal. There are 200 deaths in Delhi every day, but nobody asks about it," he told a press conference here, earlier in the day.

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.

Sources said the probe would seek to find the exact cause of death.

Jain had also accused the Lt Governor of "paralysing" the health system in Delhi.

The Health Minister also carried out inspections of five Delhi government hospitals today and appealed to people to not panic.

"Visited 5 hospitals of Delhi govt, very good arrangements for treatment of Dengue & Chikungunya. No need to panic," he tweeted.