Delhi: Elective surgeries suspended at Swami Dayanand Hospital

New Delhi: The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Thursday suspended all surgeries except those for deliveries at its Swami Dayanand Hospital due to the rising number of dengue patients at the facility.

A separate facility with 100 beds has been created at the hospital for dengue patients and 91 of them are occupied, according to EDMC Mayor Shyam Sundar Agrawal.

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According to a report released earlier this week, Delhi had recorded 723 dengue cases till October 16. This is the highest case count for this period since 2018.

Of the 723 cases, 382 were reported in the first 16 days of this month.

"We have created a separate 100-bed facility for dengue patients at Swami Dayanand Hospital. Ninety-one of these 100 beds are occupied. We don't want to take any chance so we have suspended surgeries in the hospital. However, normal as well as surgical deliveries will continue in the hospital," Agrawal told PTI.

Swami Dayanand Hospital, which has 375 beds, generally sees a rush of patients from east Delhi and from Uttar Pradesh's border areas.

EDMC commissioner Vikas Anand held a review meeting in view of the increasing number of dengue cases.

According to an EDMC statement, Anand directed officials to conduct regular checks to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes in government buildings, schools, offices, community buildings, and dispensaries.

During the meeting, the commissioner was informed that the 40-bed surgical ward at Swami Dayanand Hospital had been converted into a dengue ward, the statement said.

He was also told that lab facility and all medicines were available at the hospital. The Apheresis machine for platelet separation was fully functional and mosquito nets and mosquito repellent cream had been provided to patients, it said.

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