Minister lists measures taken to eradicate fevers

Issuing a fresh health advisory to tackle dengue and H1N1 virus in the State, Health Minister Dr C Vijaya Baskar on Thursday assured that government has taken several steps including setting up fever wards in all government hospitals to stop the spread of the disease. During a review meeting of the department, the minister said 1,200 medical camps have been organised across the State to control the spread of fever, including seasonal fevers.

“In addition, 410 mobile clinics and 770 mobile health camps have been established,” he added. He also instructed the officials concerned to create awareness among the people to visit government hospital immediately in case of fever. It was also instructed to advice the people who suffer from fever not to take medicines on their own. The authorities were told to ensure that medical shops do not supply medicines to the public without a proper prescription given by the doctor.

He said the government has appointed 20,000 trained temporary health workers to find mosquito breeding spots so as to eradicate it at the source. “Similarly, rapid response medical team has also been set up to monitor the kin of the patients, who were living with them in the same house,” the minister said.

According to the minister, 100 government testing laboratories have additionally been established to identify dengue fever through Elisa kit. More than 1,000 cell counter equipment have been supplied to the government hospitals.

At present, medicines worth more than Rs 90 crore have been stocked readily by the government.

Likewise, to the benefit of the health workers, more than 10,000 safety dresses, 33,635 face masks and 3.1 lakh three-layered face masks are made available in the hospitals.

The minister said round the clock control room, carrying telephone number such as 044-24350496, 044-24334811, has been established.

In addition, the control rooms are also equipped with mobile phone numbers, 94443 40496 and 87544 48477.

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Officials of the Vellore Central Prison were at the receiving end on Thursday when district Collector SA Raman inspected the prison premises as part of the anti-dengue drive and criticised the authorities over the poor upkeep of the facility. Accompanied by officials from the Health department and Vellore Corporation, Raman inspected the wards and rooms of the jail. What irked him was the heaps of garbage containing broken plastic and accumulated water, with mosquitos breeding in them. The team also noticed an unused cement water tank with mosquitos during the inspection. Following this, the Collector directed officials to remove the garbage and clean up the tank immediately, and warned them of initiating action if they failed to do so. Jail officials scurried to carry out the orders.