Chikungunya under control: TN Minister

Chennai, Sep 14: Chikungunya, the viral fever which affected thousands of people in Tamil Nadu, has been brought under control, State Health Minister K K S S R Ramachandran said today.

Talking to reporters after a high-level meeting to discuss measures to check and prevent chikungunya, he said the Government had succeeded in preventing the spread of the disease by destroying mosquito larvae, which caused the fever.

Stating that the cases being reported now were only that of viral fever, he said people were thronging hospitals mistaking viral fever for chikungunya. Hospitals had adequate medicines to treat the disease, he added.

Flaying opposition parties for having announced an agitation against the Government for its 'failure' to check the disease, the Minister said as the opposition had run out of issues to blame the Government, they had taken the 'issue of mosquito' in their hands.

He said chikungunya prevailed even during the previous AIADMK regime. The AIADMK Government's failure to recruit 10,000 employees, including 3,000 doctors, in the Health Department was also a reason for the spread of such diseases, he added.

State Chief Secretary L K Tripathy said the Government was adopting the Namakkal model to eradicate chikungunya by destroying mosquito larvae in other districts.

He said 242 cases of chikungunya were reported in March 20 this year, which rose to 23,670 in June. The disease had been contained to 1,302 cases in September, thanks to the government's continuous drive, he added.

Mr Tripathy said the campaign to destroy mosquito larvae would be continued for another six weeks.

UNI