3 govt hospitals to set up rooms for Mpox cases

New Delhi: The Delhi government has directed three of its hospitals to set up isolation rooms for management of suspected and confirmed cases of Mpox, officials said on Tuesday, even as they stressed that there were no patients detected here till now.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of Africa.

“Three Delhi government hospitals -- LNJP, GTB and Baba Saheb Ambedkar -- have been directed to set up isolation rooms for suspected and confirmed cases of the disease. While LNJP has been designated as the nodal facility, two other hospitals are on standby,” a senior health department official told PTI.

The Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital will have a total of 20 isolation rooms for the patients, including 10 for confirmed cases. The Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital and Baba Saheb Ambedkar will have 10 rooms each for such patients, with five rooms each in them for suspected cases. However, the official said that there was no need to panic and the government was fully prepared.

“There are no cases as of now. We are fully alert and monitoring the situation,” he added. An earlier statement from the WHO stated that 99,176 cases and 208 deaths had been reported due to Mpox from 116 countries globally since 2022. Mpox cases have been steadily increasing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last year, the number of reported cases around the world increased significantly. This year, the number of cases reported so far has already exceeded last year’s total, with more than 15,600 cases and 537 deaths. Since 2022, thirty Mpox cases were reported in India. The last case of Mpox was detected in March 2024.