NEW DELHI: Dengue crisis continued to rattle Delhi with a six year-old boy and a woman succumbing to the vector borne disease, raising the toll to 11 even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said his government was mulling bringing a law to enable temporary takeover of private hospitals during emergencies.
Aman Sharma, a child from Srinivaspuri area of South Delhi died of dengue and his parents alleged that three private hospitals -- Max Saket, Moolchand and Batra -- refused to admit him citing unavailability of beds. He died on Sunday at Holy Family hospital in Okhla.
Last week, seven-year-old Avinash Rout had died of dengue after being denied admission by five hospitals which drove his parents to suicide, triggering widespread outrage. One more death of a 29-year old woman due to dengue was reported in Lok Nayak hospital.
With this death, the dengue death toll in the city has risen to eleven. According to hospital authorities, the patient, a resident of north-west Delhi had come to the hospital yesterday evening and passed away within few minutes while she was being attended to.
"The woman came gasping at the hospital. She carried a report of Ardent Ganpati hospital as per which she had tested positive for dengue," said the medical superitendent of the hospital Dr Yogesh Kumar Sarin. As cases of dengue continued to rise and inch towards the 2,000 mark, Kejriwal carried out surprise checks at Guru Teg Bahadur hospital and Dr Hedgewar Aarogya Sansthan in Karkardooma and later said private hospitals which refused treatment to dengue patients will not be "spared".
Delhi Government directed all the schools to ensure that children came to school dressed in full sleeves shirts, trousers and salwar kameez for the next one month as a preventive measure to avoid mosquito bites.
"It is heartbreaking. We have become blind in the race to make more and more profit. We shouldn't forget our humanity. Nothing would have been lost if the hospital had treated the child. Would it have affected their profit margin so much?," he said.
Warning that hospitals which refuse patients will be penalised, the Chief Minister said his government was contemplating bringing a law to enable temporary takeover of private hospitals during emergencies.
Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry asked Delhi Government to take strict action against hospitals refusing dengue patients and directed it to rein in private facilities overcharging them.