Diphtheria death toll at Delhi civic hospital rises to 18, mayor sets up panel

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NEW DELHI: Death toll of children due to Diptheria has risen to 18 in Delhi. 

As of September 22, 13 children had died over the course of 14 days at Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital in north-west Delhi's Kingsway camp area. 

"A total of 18 children have died at the civic hospital so far, 17 of the patients were from outside Delhi and only one belonged to Delhi," a senior NDMC official said.

He quoted the figures from the information obtained from the medical superintendent of the hospital.

"From September 6-23, there have been 147 admissions, out of which 122 belonged to Uttar Pradesh, 11 from Haryana and 14 from Delhi for diphtheria cases. 18 of them have died till date," he said.

Meanwhile, North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta has set up a panel to look into the death cases and sought a report, sources said.

The report is likely to be submitted to him in three days, they said, adding that the panel is headed by an additional commissioner of the NDMC.

Medical Superintendent Sunil Kumar Gupta on September 20 had said that the patients belonged to age group of up to 9 years.

Gupta had claimed that the hospital had all the required treatment facilities to handle such cases.

"The patients admitted at advanced stage could not respond to the treatment and hence could not survive," he had said.

Maharishi Valmiki hospital has till now received 326 cases of Diphtheria out of which 44 children have died due to unavailability of medical facilities. 

Last year, around 546 patients were admitted in the hospital out of which 90 died.

(With PTI inputs)