Bharadwaj also accused the Lieutenant Governor’s Office of inaction and questioned why no meetings were held during the last two years to address the staffing issue. (Photo: PTI)
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Friday that the city government was keeping a strict vigil on the mpox situation and closely monitoring developments.
During a press conference, he said that they were closely watching the actions taken by both the central government and the other state governments. “We are closely monitoring the situation. We are closely monitoring the actions taken by both the central government and the other state governments.”
Earlier this week, the Delhi government had directed LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital and Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital to set up isolation wards for handling suspected and confirmed cases of mpox, while stressing that no patient had been detected. LNJP Hospital has then been designated as a nodal facility, while the other two are on standby.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern in view of its prevalence and spread in many parts of Africa.
Meanwhile, Bharadwaj criticised Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for delay in staffing new and existing hospitals.
While the Delhi government is working on expanding infrastructure, including building four new hospitals and upgrading facilities at 13 others, lack of appointment of doctors and paramedical staff has made these efforts incomplete, Bharadwaj said.
He noted that around 14,000 new beds were being added to Delhi hospitals, but these beds would be of little use without adequate staff.
Bharadwaj also accused the Lt Governor’s Office of inaction and asked why no meetings were held during the last two years to address the staffing issue.
The Health Minister further said that if the Office of the Deputy Governor could not handle the responsibility, it should be handed over to the elected government, which would ensure the necessary appointments.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 23, 2024 | 15:52 IS
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