Keep vigil on vector-borne diseases, warn doctors

The Union Minister was reviewing the status of vector-borne diseases and the preparation of states through a video conference. Appreciating Tamil Nadu for its efforts in ensuring a behavioural change among the public in terms of checking the breeding of mosquitoes, the Minister said that other states can emulate Tamil Nadu’s practices by focusing on active case finding for source identification and reduction of vectors.  

However, city doctors urge for better coordination between the government, doctors and the public to ensure that vector-borne diseases are kept under check. “Without combined efforts, the government alone will not be able to monitor the situation in the state,” said Dr MN Murugan, a general physician.  

Stating that Tamil Nadu was appreciated for managing to bring down the burden to almost nil, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said, “We had addressed all the Collectors about the sensitivity and the need to be alert about dengue and to ensure there isn’t a repeat of last year’s episode. We created a lot of additional hospital space specific to attend to dengue patients. Our clinical case monitoring was appreciated.” 

As the Health Department held a lot of IEC (Information, Education and Communication) programmes last year, behavioural changes were seen among the public. “While everyone is aware about dengue and the breeding of the aedes mosquitoes, not everyone takes the effort to check its breeding. However, last year, we saw people put this knowledge into practice. Only if this continues year after year will we see vector-borne diseases under check,” said a government hospital doctor. 

In a letter written by the Health Secretary to the District Collectors, he said, “While the situation is under control, with a view to prevent any outbreak of such fevers, a number of activities need to be monitored, including the need to remove all open containers and articles.”