Edusat to monitor breakout of communicable diseases: Lakshmi

New Delhi, May 19 (UNI) The Health and Family Welfare Ministry will utilise the EDUSAT for establishing satellite linkage connecting all districts and major medical institutions throughout the country for quicker intervention in dealing with communicable diseases.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi told the Rajya Sabha that by 2007, 800 satellite interactive terminals would be installed with the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The satellite linkage under the Integrated Diseases Surveillance Project (IDSP) would be utilised for early transference of information about occurrence of communicable diseases to the state surveillance units and National Institute of Communicable Diseases and for distance training and education programmes of personnel involved in disease surveillance as well as health programmes under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

To another question, she said that the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture has set up a committee under the chairmanship of Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research to go into the source of and virus route of bird flu in India.

The Health Ministry had taken a number of preparedness measures which included monitoring by an inter ministerial group, national consultation and preparation of contingency plan which had been circulated to all states and districts, stockpiling of Tamiflu medicine and personal protective equipment, and training of state level rapid response teams.

"Till date no human cases of avian flu has been reported," she told the members, adding that the coordinated action taken by the Ministries or departments and the state governments had brought the situation under control. The situation was being closely monitored by the government.

Regarding a query on Chikungunya disease in the country, Ms Lakshmi replied that the dengue-like fever had been reported from 17 districts of Karnataka, 15 each from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and nine from Tamil Nadu.

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