The tragic events culminating in the suicide of the parents of Avinash, a seven year old child who had succumbed to dengue fever, largely due to the apathy of a number of private hospitals, have laid bare the pathetic condition of health care services in Delhi. Subsequent to a public outcry the Delhi Government has announced a slew of measures to mitigate the impact of the current Dengue epidemic in Delhi. It is natural for a feeling of deja vu to engulf us as we watch the consequences of the Dengue epidemic unfold.
Every 3-5 years the city is caught up in an epidemic of dengue fever, each time there is widespread panic among the population, each time the city’s health services prove utterly inadequate, and each year the administration’s belated attempts at mitigating the epidemic’s impact are largely cosmetic in nature. Malaise afflicting country’s healthcare system The cyclical dengue…
