Diarrhoea, cholera, AIDS cases soaring in Delhi: Congress

The Congress' Delhi unit on Tuesday said the health situation in the capital has been worsening for the past three years, with cases of diarrhoea, cholera and AIDS increasing manifold.

Diarrhoea and cholera, water-borne diseases, have increased manifold due to contaminated water supply in various parts of the city, said Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee in a statement.

Mukherjee said on an average 5,85,480 people have suffered from diarrhoea in the past three years, while the cholera cases increased from 2,524 in 2014 to 7,328 in 2016.

She said deaths due to cholera rose from 39 in 2014 to 138 in 2015, but these cases were never raised in the Medical Relief and Public Health Committee meetings.

"Ever since the Aam Aadmi Party assumed power in Delhi, diseases like dengue, chikungunya and swine flue have been on the rise, but the present data shows that cases of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and cholera have also been increasing unchecked," Mukherjee said.

"AAP government's claim of increasing hospital beds by 10,000 has also proved to be hollow as only 806 beds have been added since 2014, making an average of 268 beds per year, though the AAP has been in in power in Delhi for the past two and a half years," the Congress leader said.

She also said that in 2014, there were 2,211 cases of AIDS in Delhi, which increased to 14,474 in 2015 and touched the highest number of 17,332 in 2016.

"AIDS cases have been rising at an alarming rate, but the (Arvind) Kejriwal government has not taken any steps to either control it or create awareness among the people," Mukherjee said.

She said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should launch a "Swachh Rajdhani" campaign to make the capital disease-free along with his Swachh Bharat project.

--IANS

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