No need to panic over chikungunya: AAP

There is no need to panic over the spread of chikungunya and dengue in the national capital and enough hospital beds are still available, Delhi's ruling AAP said on Wednesday.

"There is no need to panic," Aam Aadmi Party leader Dilip Pandey told the media. "Our hospitals are competent to treat the patients we get."

He said that Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had visited almost all major hospitals in the city.

"On the basis of what the minister has conveyed to us, we can say with confidence that there is nothing to panic," Pandey said.

The comments follow reports that 10 people have died in Delhi due to chikungunya, which has affected tens of thousands across the city. Cases of viral fever and dengue are also rampant.

Pandey said that contrary to the allegations made by the BJP, the Delhi government had been readying itself to overcome vector-borne diseases for weeks.

He said the Delhi government had opened 355 fever clinics, arranged for 1,000 extra beds and allowed private hospitals to increase the number of beds by 10 to 20 percent for a limited period.

The AAP leader again accused the BJP-controlled municipal corporations of failing to take adequate steps to prevent the breeding and proliferation of mosquitoes although this was their responsibility.

He said that AAP activists had been fogging several areas across the capital to beat the mosquito menace since August. "Our Doctors' Cell has also decided to open free clinics."

Hospitals in Delhi are with either the central government or the BJP-held municipal corporations or the AAP-led Delhi government.

--IANS

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