At least 1,500 beds still vacant in Delhi hospitals: Satyendra Jain

With the reported Chikungunya death toll climbing to 12 in the national capital, Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Friday rejected complaints of vector borne disease patients about the shortage of beds in Delhi hospitals and claimed that atleast 1,500 beds are still unoccupied.

"At least 1,500 beds are vacant at hospitals under Delhi government, it will be very wrong to say that patients are denied bed. We have also ordered for five MRI machines and ten CT scan machine," he added.

"The data that was release by AIIMS it showed that there were deaths due to dengue. Not everyone who have died due to dengue are from Delhi, there are many from neighbouring states too, we need to segregate data," he added.

Responding to opposition criticising AAP-led Delhi government over Chikungunya death toll, Jain said if people want to do politics they can do but Politics can wait.

"Because right now, everyone should help us in fogging. I urge everyone to co-operate with State government to deal with situation," he added.

After facing flak from several quarters, AAP government suddenly became active on Wednesday with two of its ministers, Satyendra Jain and Water Minister Kapil Mishra doing rounds in the city.

Jain visited several hospitals on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda spoke to the Health Ministers of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh regarding the dengue and chikungunya cases.

In a tweet, Nadda said, "community participation is important to stop mosquito breeding which is responsible for these diseases."

He said, he will also meet Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain today on the issue.

The Delhi government is likely to submit a detailed report to the Union Health Ministry on the chikungunya deaths in the national capital.