Commonwealth Games medical chief Tarun Garg ill with typhoid

The chief medical officer for the crisis-stricken Delhi Commonwealth Games has been struck down with a suspected case of typhoid. The news that Tarun Garg is on sick leave was the latest setback for an event already blighted by rampant corruption, allegations that safety certificates for several stadiums have been forged and scathing criticism of uninhabitable athletes’ lodgings.

In the run-up to the $3 billion Games health fears have mostly centred on a serious outbreak of dengue fever, an excruciatingly painful and potentially deadly mosquito-borne disease. Hundreds of fresh cases are being confirmed in Delhi daily by private clinics, but are not being reported by the authorities, it was revealed last week. It has also been reported that only two of the 11 medical centres created for the Games are in operation and most of the 3000 CCTV cameras covering the event are malfunctioning.



At the centrepiece Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium a woman collapsed during rehearsals for the opening ceremony, but her stretcher could not fit into a stadium lift to take her to a medical team on the first floor. “She had to be rushed to the medical room on the first floor but the stretcher did not fit inside the lift. The ambulance stationed outside the stadium could not reach in time.”

Meanwhile, three days before the opening ceremony, which will be attended by Prince Charles, Indian officials admitted that the CCTV system at the stadium was faulty. “Some of these pictures have made us dizzy and many of the cameras are also aimed at non-sensitive areas. One camera was blocked by a wall,” one said.