16 swine flu deaths in two Delhi hospitals; official toll is two

New Delhi, March 5 (IANS) Two top government hospitals in Delhi – Safdarjung Hospital and LNJP Hospital – have reported 16 swine flu deaths this year, top officials said Thursday, contradicting the figure of one death in each hospital given out by the union health ministry. “There have been a total of 11 deaths in our hospital this year,” Rajpal, the Medical Superintendent of Safdurjung Hospital, one of the oldest in the capital, told IANS. “Of these, seven victims were among the 29 cases referred to our hospital. Three other deaths were of patients who directly came to us,” he added. “All the deaths were reported to the DHS (Directorate of Health Services) but I don’t know why were they not made public,” Rajpal said. He added that all the patients suffering from swine flu in the hospital, located in south Delhi, were in severe condition and brought for treatment during the late stage of the disease. The Safdarjung Hospital comes under the union health ministry. Similarly, the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, controlled by the Delhi government, has seen five swine flu deaths, its Medical Superintendent Ramji told IANS. “Five deaths were reported in the hospital in the first two months of this year. We reported all the deaths to DHS,” Ramji told IANS. “All the samples of the patients were tested and confirmed at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as swine flu deaths,” he said. According to the union health ministry, Delhi has reported 3,220 swine flu cases and 10 deaths. But data given out by DHS show that only one death each has occurred in the Safdarjung Hospital and the LNJP Hospital. When reached by IANS, a senior health ministry official said that he would have the statistics of swine flu deaths checked and revert. The DHS identified the sole victim of swine flu at Safdarjung Hospital as a 50-year-old woman from Chattarpur in south Delhi who died on January 22. Due to the high media coverage on the increasing swine flu cases and deaths, the DHS has changed two of its nodal officers — Charan Singh and R.N. Das. Safdarjung Hospital now has a separate 50-bed ward for swine flu patients that currently has 30 patients — 28 adults and two children.