Meeting to tackle Chikungunya

A meeting of the Health Ministers of chikungunya-affected States will be oganised by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry in the capital today.

The agenda is to come out with a plan to combat the disease that has affected more than 1.3 million people in India. Chikungunya has taken several lives, predominantly in Kerala. The Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss will chair the meeting of the Health Ministers of the four southern States, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi.

The Health Ministers had met in Delhi last week to discuss ways to control the spread of the disease. They requested for fogging machines, insecticides and medicines to control mosquitoes that transmit both chikungunya and dengue. Similar demands for logistic support are likely to be made in this meeting also.

7.6 lakh cases have been reported in Karnataka, over 43,000 in Kerala. 90 deaths have been reported in Kerala and 7 in Ahmedabad due to chikungunya. Of the 28 chikungunya cases in Delhi, 7 have been confirmed.

Dengue has affected 3,803 people across the country and the death toll has reached 52 of which, 20 have been reported from Delhi. The number of dengue cases in the capital has crossed 1,029. 713 cases of dengue in Kerala are undergoing treatment and 4 deaths have been reported here. In Tamil Nadu, 368 cases and 1 death have been reported. In Rajasthan , 8 people died and 328 of them are getting treated. 259 cases and 8 deaths have been reported in Uttar Pradesh. The number of deaths reported from other states is 3 from West Bengal, 4 from Karnataka and 3 from Gujarat.

According to an advisory issued by the Ministry, people should be screened at airports, railway stations and bus stands and anyone suffering from fever should be taken to hospitals as part of the preventive measure. 30 hospitals in Delhi have been notified by the government to directly conduct blood tests for patients having fever.

Source-Medindia
GYT