Kerala: Ramdoss visits Chikungunya-hit Cherthala

Cherthala (Alappuzha, Kerala), Oct 6: Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramdoss today confirmed that the disease outbreak in Cherthala taluk was Chikungunya and said the Central Government will give all assistance to the Kerala Government to tackle the problem.

Mr Ramdoss, accompanied by MPs K S Manoj and C S Sujatha and Kerala Health Minister P K Sreemathy, arrived at the Thuravoor community health centre in Cherthala at about 0900 hrs. He went around the centre and interacted with the patients for about half an hour.

Later, talking to reporters at Thuravoor, Mr Ramdoss said that the problem affecting Cherthala taluk was Chikungunya. Nearly 800 to 900 people had been affected by fever and of these, 60 samples had tested positive for Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease.

There had been some confusion about whether the disease, which has claimed more than 80 lives in Cherthala taluk in the past few weeks, was Chikungunya.

Asked about the availability of facilities in Cherthala to deal with the situation, Mr Ramdoss said no local-level hospital in the country was equipped to deal with the outbreak of a disease at such a large-scale level.

The Central Government will give all possible assistance to the State Government to deal with the situation, he said.

Mr Ramdoss later visited the Cherthala taluk hospital, where more than 500 patients are admitted with fever and other symptoms of Chikungunya.

Meanwhile, one more person, identified as Dillip, 22, of Kanjikuzhy panchayat, died in the Cherthala taluk hospital this morning.

A nine-member Central team visiting Cherthala, including officials of the World Health Organisation, also confirmed that the disease affecting Cherthala was Chikungunya. The team has been in Cherthala for the past two days.

Dr N Raghavan, Additional Director of the State Health Department, speaking on behalf of the Central team, said there was a high density of Aedes mosquitoes in Cherthala. While the normal mosquito index was ten, the index at Cherthala was 25 to 30, he said Warning that the area could be hit by a dengue outbreak also, the team stressed the need for an immediate mosquito-eradication drive.

UNI

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