The Hindu : New Delhi News : Citizens reassured on meningitis scare

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 04, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Citizens reassured on meningitis scare

Staff Reporter

Ten beds in all hospitals to be kept aside for patients reporting with meningococcal meningitis

NEW DELHI: Reassuring the Capital's citizens that there was no reason for panic, the Delhi Health Minister, Yoganand Shastri, on Tuesday announced that all hospitals would keep aside ten beds for patients reporting with meningococcal meningitis.

Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, convened a meeting where the Health Minister and officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the New Delhi Municipal Council were present to look into the reported cases of the meningococcal meningitis in the city.

At a press conference here, Dr. Shastri announced that the Government would take all possible measure to tide over the situation, but added that it was proper awareness which was the key to preventing the spread of the bacteria.

According to the figures released by the Health Department, Delhi has so far reported 34 cases of which 17 are still admitted to various hospitals. Three of these are children. The city has confirmed, three deaths due to the disease, all at the Hindu Rao Hospital.

"We have five cases at Apollo, two at Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital, one at Guru Teg Bhadur Hospital, three at Hindu Rao Hospital and six at Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Hospital," said Dr. Shastri.

Speaking about the arrangement made to manage cases, the Minister added: "We have put the doctors on alert and instructed that the patients should be kept in isolation ."

Mr. Shastri also held a meeting with a high-level committee to ascertain the cause of the illness of 15 patients in different hospitals and their blood samples have been sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Hyderabad.

Meanwhile the NICD, in its report today confirmed menigococcal (sero group A) etiology in three of the eight samples collected from the hospitals in Delhi.

A three-member team of experts headed by Professor A.K. Dutta, Department of Pediatrics of Kalawati Saran Children Hospital, took stock of the situation after visiting the hospitals in Delhi. The team found that a total of 42 clinically suspected cases of menigococcal disease had been reported since Friday last.

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