Thursday, May 5 2005 22:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Three more persons have succumbed to Meningococcemia in the capital taking the toll to 14 and the number of affected cases to 91, even as the Delhi Government notified the disease under the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act today (May 5, 2005).

These statistcs were provided by Delhi Health Minister Yoganand Shastri after a meeting with Medical Superintendents of all Delhi hospitals and concerned officials in Delhi this evening.

Seven more patients have been admitted to hospitals and three more deaths were reported since yesterday (May 4, 2005) he said.

Shastri said that though the Government was still not declaring Meningococcemia, as an epidemic, the disease has been notified under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and all clinics and hospitals in the city would have to give a daily report on the disease to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

"We have ensured that the patients will be kept in isolated wards and the doctors and the other medical staff treating them would be dedicated to these wards," he said.

State Health Secretary S P Aggarwal said that the medical staff treating cases of the disease and their family members will be vaccinated and given prophylactic treatment.

He also said that now there is no disparity between the figures of the Delhi Government and those given by the Union Health Ministry.