Incidence of Dengue in Tamil Nadu being contained, says minister

Speaking after launching a dengue awareness programme and inspecting conditions of those in hospitals last evening, he said the situation across the state was being monitored closely and awareness programmes and review meetings had been held in 15 districts.

Listing the efforts being taken to tackle dengue in the state, the minister said 30,000 field staff, 3,000 sanitary inspectors, 776 Paediatric medical teams, 416 mobile medical units besides other department staff had been pressed into service to combat dengue.

The minister said not all fevers are of dengue. Once a patient with symptoms of fever was treated at a hospital, the infection could be easily identified and treated accordingly.

He claimed hospitals in the state are fully prepared to identify and treat all fevers, including dengue quickly and efficiently.

"Awareness has been created among the medical and para medical fraternity in the state while the Indian Medical Association has helped the cause by sensitising private medical fecilities", he said.

Dismissing rumours of 'mysterious fever', he said there are various types of fever, all of which could be clinically identified and treated. Dengue was one among them and it should be noted that it was curable, he said.