Over 100 people have died of leptospirosis, dengue, malaria and gastric diseases in the past one-week, Indo-Asian News Services reported Saturday.

According to Maharashtra government agencies, the figure only covered public hospitals as the casualties in private hospitals have not been reported to the government.

Most of the deaths were reported from populous shantytowns in city suburbs, the worst affected by last month's floods.

"The number of patients that are being admitted to hospitals is rising everyday. Despite making additional beds, we are finding it hard to cope with the situation," said an official of KEM Hospital in the northern suburb of Parel, unwilling to release his name.

The epidemic panic is slowly spreading all across the city and people are rushing to hospitals even with vague symptoms or to find out precautionary measures, he added.

Deputy municipal commissioner V.N. Patil said more than 2,000 people came to medical camps, set up in crowded Bharat Nagar in northern city suburb Bandra in the last two days.

At least 10 people have died in the last few days due to waterborne diseases in Bharat Nagar which has a population of nearly 150,000, mostly casual laborers, small traders and scrap dealers.

"We have become panicky....none of us want to leave anything to chance now. It can happen to anyone since this whole locality had been submerged under five feet of water and there was so much filth around till recently," said scrap dealer Bhure Lal who makes a regular round of the local medical camp with his family.

Over 3,500 people have been sent to 16 government-run hospitals and select private medical centers throughout the city, and over 200 medical teams are going from house to house for checks and treatment.

The disease outbreak has badly affected middle class residences like the northern suburbs of Bandra, Andheri, Santa Cruz, Virar, Kurla, Thane and Kalyan, most of these areas had come under 1.5 to 4.6-meter-deep water after torrential rains that pounded the city last month, killing at least 450 people.

An embattled Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the city was now sourcing medical help from other parts of Maharashtra Pradesh.

Nongovernmental organizations are also visiting slums, urging people not to ignore any symptoms of waterborne diseases including fever, headache, and giddiness.

Despite the rising death toll, Deshmukh has denied an epidemic and said that the situation was completely under control.

Source: Xinhua