Mpox patient at LNJP hospital stable, no need to panic: Delhi health minister

The mpox patient admitted to the LNJP Hospital is in stable condition, Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Tuesday, 10 September.

Bharadwaj conducted a surprise inspection at the hospital earlier in the day to assess its preparations for dealing with cases of mpox and dengue.

"There is one confirmed patient of mpox at LNJP hospital. He has a travel history and it is believed that he got infected during his travel abroad," the minister said.

"The patient has been isolated in a separate ward. He is in a stable condition," he added.

The 26-year-old patient, a resident of Haryana's Hisar, has only genital ulcers and skin rashes but no fever, a health department official said. The patient was kept in the disaster management ward of the hospital, according to a statement from the health department.

Bharadwaj emphasised that there was no need to panic over mpox as it spreads through contact, not through the air.

The Union health ministry on Monday, 9 September said that it was an "isolated case" and there was no immediate risk to the public.

"The individual, a young male who recently travelled from a country experiencing ongoing mpox transmission, is currently isolated at a designated tertiary care isolation facility. The patient remains clinically stable and is without any systemic illness or comorbidities," the ministry had said.

The patient was admitted to the Delhi government-run hospital on Saturday, 7 September.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) last month declared mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for the second time in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of Africa.

While the LNJP has been designated as the nodal facility, two other hospitals are on standby.

The LNJP Hospital has 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 for suspected cases.

The health minister said that the cases of fever have increased a bit but there is nothing to worry about right now.

He said separate waiting rooms for attendants of the patients will be set up at every ward to further improve the hospital facilities.

"Separate rooms are available at the hospital for dengue patients. We have reviewed how will the doctors identify a dengue patient if they come in emergency and then how they will be shifted to a different ward," Bharadwaj said and added similar surprise inspections of other hospitals will be conducted by him.

The hospital administration told the minister that only one case of monkeypox came to the hospital and the condition of that patient is also stable, the statement said.