Epidemic prevention to be strengthened through coordination committees in Keralam

Coordination committees, chaired by District Collectors, will be formed to strengthen local-level prevention of epidemic diseases such as dengue and chikungunya.

The Principal Secretary (Health) has been tasked to take necessary steps regarding this, Health Minister K. Muraleedharan announced after the epidemic review meeting here on Monday.

The meeting also directed that committees be formed at the grassroots in local bodies, by including councillors/panchayat members, residents’ association office-bearers, and health workers. Dengue hotspots will be identified and mosquito control activities, among other measures, will be intensified.

To prevent water stagnation from intermittent rains and to eliminate mosquito breeding, Dry Day should be observed on Fridays in educational institutions, on Saturdays in workplaces, and on Sundays in households, wherein all potential breeding sources for mosquitoes should be eliminated. An action plan will be prepared for this in consultation with the Local Self-Government Minister.

Directions were also issued to step up preventive activities according to the epidemic calendar, to strengthen fever clinics in fever-affected areas, and to start new ones where needed. The Minister said that meetings of District Medical Officers and District Programme Managers will be convened to review day-to-day grassroots activities in the coming days.

Those who attended the review meeting included the Principal Secretary (Health), Sharmila Mary Joseph; the Chairman, Health Department High-Power Committee, S. S.Lal; the Director of Health Services, V. Meenakshy; the Director of Medical Education, K.V. Viswanathan; Head, Infectious Diseases Department, Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College, Aravind R.; Special Officer, Kerala Centre for Disease Control, A. Althaf, among others.