TN disrict to revive DEC administration

Pudukkottai, Dec 9 (UNI) The Public Health Authorities of the Pudukkottai district would revive the mass administration of Diethylcarbamazine Citrate (DEC) tablets to check the incidence of Lymphatic Filariasis in the district on December 27, according to Health Department sources.

The sources said the DEC tablets would be distributed to all, except for those aged below two and above 60, pregnant women and the sick. Pudukottai is one of the 14 districts prone to the epidemic and, hence, it had been selected for the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) programme, they added.

The other districts were. Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Tiruchi, Perambalur, Kanyakumari and Chennai. The MDA programme was implemented for seven years from 1998 to 2004.

Apart from DEC tablets, each individual would now be given an additional tablet of 'Albendazole' supplied by the World Health Organisation.

The mop-up programme of distribution of the DEC and Albendazole tablets would continue till December 29 to cover the left-over population, the sources added.

The District Collector D Uthirakkumaran said about 14 lakh persons would be covered in the district. As a preliminary step, a door-to-door survey would be conducted in the district for three days from December 17. The survey would also be utilised to sensitise people on preventive measures, he said, adding over 6,300 volunteers of service organisations, health department personnel, anganwadi workers and members of self-help groups would distribute the tablets on December 27.

UNI