Delhi govt to curb dengue menace on war footing: Sisodia

With a sudden spike in dengue cases in the city, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today asked all stakeholders to marshal resources to combat the menace on a "war footing" and prepare a communication plan to prevent panic among people.
"We must prepare on a war footing. So, let us start at all levels now and devise methods to stop the panic over dengue. Panic is one of the challenges we are facing.
"We must prepare a communication plan to let people know about dengue in detail. We must have a quick response team which will communicate with the people of Delhi," he said.

Speaking at a meeting called to review the preparedness to handle the outbreak of dengue, Sisodia stated he will monitor the situation closely and asked the health officials to send him a daily report in this regard.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary, Delhi, officials of the health, education and urban development departments, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), members of three corporations, Divisional Commissioner, all district magistrates, and officials of Delhi Health Services.
The Deputy CM enquired about the schedule of distribution of dengue awareness pamphlets, door-to-door visits of health workers and preparedness of hospitals in battling the disease.

Officials from health and revenue departments and corporations, and other stakeholders said they were geared up to handle the dengue menace and were preparing to meet any emergency situation.

Health department officials said they have had meetings with RWAs, corporations and schools in this regard. They said the department was ready with community awareness kits and plans to reach out to 45 lakh households.
They also informed the minister about the 355 fever clinics which the government has planned to open to tackle the disease.
Sisodia enquired about the number of beds being increased for dengue patients.
The Revenue Department said it will seek report from the hospitals in their areas about the disease.

The Deputy CM asked the district magistrates to send teams for surprise checks to hospitals to assess their preparedness and position with regard to dengue patients admitted to hospitals.
Officials from the corporation said they have started issuing challans against owners of premises where mosquito-breeding was found.
Sisodia also offered the corporations to make available officials, if required, for issuing challans and asked for the raw and comparative challan data from them.
He asked the officials to work out a coordination programme between the Delhi government and the municipal corporations for handling the dengue situation, awareness drive and issuing of challans over mosquito-breeding.

At least 90 cases of dengue have been reported in the national capital this season. Last year, the city saw a staggering 15,867 dengue cases, the worst in 20 years, with the disease claiming 60 lives, as per municipal reports.