NEW DELHI: Delhi has been hugely under-reporting dengue cases and deaths, says a report of the comptroller and auditor general on the preparedness of the city govern ment, municipal bodies and others in control and prevention of the disease.
The report comes in the midst of a chikungunya and dengue outbreak, with a Delhi government panel earlier this month dismissing all deaths attributed to the diseases so far this year.
The CAG, which examined dengue cases from 2013 to 2015, said while hospitals re ported 409 dengue deaths in 2015, the state’s "death review committee" confirmed only 60 -46 from Delhi and 14 from other states. The committee comprises city government doctors as well as municipal health officers.
The yet-to-be tabled CAG report says even dengue cases were being under-reported. These are collated and sent to the Centre by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. In 2015, just 33% of the 67,500 positive cases reported by hospitals were sent to the Centre.
CAG also criticised all municipal bodies for failing to develop a standard operating procedure for epidemiological surveillance and for not having any laboratory facility for the purpose. Details of positive cases reported by hospitals, and the cases actually intimated by the nodal agency to the Centre, help in assessing the disease burden and deployment of effective control measures.
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