Nadda ensures ongoing measures to prevent diseases outbreak in Kerala

The Union Health Ministry Friday said it is monitoring on a daily basis the spread of various diseases, including dengue, chickenpox and acute diarrhoeal disease, in Kerala due to floods in the state.

Nadda, who visited Kerala and reviewed the relief and rescue work, said the Centre is extending all support and assistance to the state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is himself monitoring the situation.

The Union health minister said the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is keeping a watch on the outbreak situation and the strategic operation center has also been activated.

"The NCDC is monitoring the outbreak situation. An event-based daily reporting for epidemic-prone diseases is followed from August 21.

"The Strategic Operation Centre has been activated. The EMR division is monitoring the situation arising due to a spurt of cases from leptospirosis, dengue, chickenpox and acute diarrhoeal disease on a daily basis," an official statement read.

The deluge triggered by torrential rains claimed 491 lives and left a trail of destruction in the state.

Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan, Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja and other senior officials accompanied the Union health minister during the review of the situation.

Nadda expressed sorrow on the deaths and damage caused to lives and property due to the floods and asserted that all possible flood relief measures are being taken up.

"The Health Ministry is continuously monitoring the public health situation arising out of floods in Kerala," the statement quoted the minister as saying.

Nadda visited the Chalakkudy Taluk Hospital and interacted with patients. Later, he visited the relief camps at VR Puram and Mullassery and assured all support and cooperation to the state.

According to the statement, 50 doctors were kept on standby for deputation to affected areas at short notice, while 12 public health teams, each comprising a public health specialist, a microbiologist and an entomologist, were kept ready to deal with the situation.

It said 48 essential emergency drugs were kept ready for immediate dispatch and on the request of the state government, the first tranche of 48 essential emergency drugs, weighing about 73 MT, were airlifted by the Indian Air Force.

2.25 crore chlorine tablets and 80 MT of bleaching powder were made available to the state, the statement said.

Four lakh sanitary napkins were delivered at Thiruvananthapuram. Insecticides, larvicides and fogging machines were also mobilized and delivered to the state, it said.

"The norms were especially related to the exigencies of the circumstances and approval of the additional amount of Rs 18.71 crore was accorded to the state through the National Health Mission, as per their request," the statement read.

The ministry said, "58 items of essential drugs including drugs for managing non-communicable diseases" were delivered to the state.

In view of the increase in the number of cases of leptospirosis, Kerala has been provided with 18,00,000 capsules of doxycycline drug used for prophylaxis and treatment of leptospirosis.

Psycho-social teams have been deployed from NIMHANS, Bengaluru, for rapid psycho-social assessment and community-based psycho-social care.

"These teams have so far sensitized 5,353 volunteers on community-based psychosocial care; 65,155 survivors of disaster have been supported through psychosocial first aid programme; 17,140 individual sessions and 2,335 group sessions were carried out. 396 subjects were referred for psychiatric care/psychological counseling to higher centers," the statement said.

The ministry said the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) and its state branch are also providing assistance to the state.

"5,000 volunteers of the IRCS participated in search and rescue operations. They have supplied 300 tents, 2,500 tarpaulins and utility items such as sarees (3,000), blankets (3,500), bedsheets (4,000) etc. and three water treatment units," it added.