Chikungunya cases spike up in Delhi, people in shelter homes worst affected

There has been a spike in chikungunya cases in the national capital where at least 2,000 blood samples have tested positive in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) alone.

New Delhi, Sep 26: There has been a spike in chikungunya cases in the national capital where at least 2,000 blood samples have tested positive in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) alone. In wake of the chikungunya and dengue menace, the Supreme Court on Monday heard the plea on deaths due to chikungunya and dengue and issued notice to Delhi Government and has scheduled September 30 for its next hearing.  The plea was filed by Delhi-based doctor Anil Mittal who asked for proper steps to be taken to stop the spread of these water-borne diseases.

The national capital is grappling with a major health crisis triggered by chikungunya and medical clinics are swamped with patients rushing in. It is becoming really difficult for the homeless in New Delhi. People who don’t have a proper house to live are feeling the pain of the disease even more than those who maintain hygienic conditions.

As per reports by News18, a 28-year-old Shanti Mohan who is a widow says shelter homes are better than government hospitals because people are hardly given any attention in hospitals and are not paid any heed to. “People are hardly given any attention, especially when we don’t even have enough money to travel to these clinics or hospital”, she added. Shanti is a homeless widow, a mother of three and is five months pregnant suffering from chikungunya.(ALSO READ: Chikungunya crisis in Delhi: LG Najeeb Jung asks Dy CM Manish Sisodia to return back from Finland)

The plight of the poor in India never seems to end. With pitiable conditions of the Indian hospitals, many incidences of poor treatment by hospital authorities have been reported from across the nation. The NGT had earlier taken a dig at the Delhi Government for their shameful stand on Dengue and Chikungunya outbreak. The ones who majorly suffer due to such response from the government are the homeless and migrant labourers. Since they have no option, they live with the fever, till its pain goes away.

A 24-year old Mohan Kumar from Assam has been bed-ridden for the past two weeks and has not been able to go to work due to his deteriorating condition. Some from outside Delhi have been rejected medication facilities at government clinics just because they do not hail from to the national capital. (ALSO READ: Chikungunya menace: Supreme Court issues notice to Delhi Governmet, next hearing on September 30)

As per News 18, manager of a night shelter for the Homeless, ‘Ran Basera’, Simrat Kapoor, says, “Alka Lamba, the AAP local councilor had visited us during the last election but we never saw her after that.” Ran Basera shelter home is located near Chhota Bazaar Kashmere Gate. 29-year old Nagma Begum is a daily wage laborer from Allahabad who resides at the nearby Badli Village.  The village is around 30 kilometers away AIIMS,New Delhi. Nagma expresses anger and frustration over a common complains of the lack of medical facilities in the village.(ALSO READ: Chikungunya-Dengue crisis: Arvind Kejriwal starts fogging drive, seeks joint effort by parties)

In another shocking incident, Dinesh Ranjan who hails from Madhya Pradesh has been suffering from chikungunya since a month. He has taken refuge in the homeless shelter past two months. Expressing sadness and shoch, Dinesh said,”The NGO directed me to Aruna Asif Ali Government Hospital, but I was turned away after being diagnosed with chikungunya. They refused to admit a homeless person without a guardian.”

Another incident, Ram Bhajan, who is the head of the workers at an under-construction factory near the industrial area, said that there have been at least eight of his labourers who have taken leaves due to chikungunya. He also stated that most of the labourers cannot really afford medication. As, the chikungunya outbreak after the 2006 could be due to “Delhi having a lot of migrant population and generation born after 2006.” “Since they were not exposed to the viral strain in 2006 and hence not grown immune, so they are getting affected by it,” he said.(ALSO READ: Chikungunya Hazard: Supreme Court to hear PIL on unchecked spread of Chikungunya in Delhi)

According to Dr Lalit Dar of Department of Microbiology at AIIMS, the hospital laboratories have tested 3,500 cases of chikungunya samples out of which 2,000 have tested positive, nearly 58 per cent. For dengue, Dar said  out of 8,500 samples only 474 have tested positive.”

As per reports, the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) till September 11 has recorded the number for chikungunya affected people at 1,724. On Friday, AIIMS said that chikungunya cannot be fatal and attributed co-morbidity as the factor which causes fatality in rare cases. “1 out of 1,000 people, i.e., 0.1 per cent run the risk of dying due to chikungunya complications, and that too if the patient has co-morbid conditions. Chikungunya is otherwise non-fatal,” Head of the Department of Medicine, Dr S K Sharma was quoted saying by PTI.

The vector-borne disease is on a rise and has claimed many lives in the northern states. Over 2,600 people have been affected by the mosquito-borne fever this season. The Delhi government had this week set a committee to look into recent deaths. As per the reports by the committee, a total 20 fatalities out of which 13 were chikungunya related and seven due to dengue were reported from hospitals in the city.