Centre to assist Kerala to fight Chikungunya outbreak:Ramdoss

Alappuzha, Oct 6: Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramdoss today confirmed that the disease outbreak in Cherthala taluk was Chikungunya but said he will comment on the exact cause of more than 80 deaths in the area only after receiving reports of experts.

Addressing a press conference here after visiting the Thuravoor community health centre and the Cherthala taluk hospital this morning, Dr Ramdoss said the Centre will give all assistance sought by the Kerala government to tackle the situation.

While not mentioning any quantum of financial assistance, Dr Ramdoss said the aid would be in the form of fogging machines and chemicals and larvacidal fish for vector control and testing kits.

A special package would also be announced for Kerala, which was facing a Chikungunya outbreak for the first time, he said.

The Vector Control Research Centre at Cherthala, lying closed for the past few years, would be reopened and the Virology Institute at Alappuzha would be upgraded with new equipment. Nearly 40 community health centres in Kerala will also be upgraded, he said.

Any other assistance sought by the Kerala Government to tackle Chikungunya, which was staging a comeback to India after more than 30 years, would also be provided, he added.

While stating that several patients in Cherthala had tested positive for Chikungunya, Dr Ramdoss said the cause of the more than 80 deaths in Cherthala could not be said to be Chikungunya.

Chikungunya was not a fatal disease he said and noted that most of the patients who had died were elderly people. This could mean that they had died of some other underlying conditions, which had been aggravated by Chikungunya.

Earlier, Dr Ramdoss, accompanied by MPs K S Manoj and C S Sujatha and Kerala Health Minister P K Sreemathy visited the Thuravoor community health centre and the Cherthala taluk hospital.

Dr Ramdoss, who arrived at Thuravoor community health centre in Cherthala at about 0900 hrs, went around the centre and interacted with the patients for about half an hour. Later, he spent nearly one hour at the Cherthala taluk hospital and himself examined some patients. He also visited the fever and the children's wards.

On his arrival at the taluk hospital, he spent some time discussing the situation with the doctors at the hospital, where more than 500 patients are admitted with fever.

Addressing the press conference later at Alappuzha, Dr Ramdoss said that Chikungunya was mainly a problem of sanitation with the disease-causing Aedes mosquitoes breeding in stagnant and collected water.

To aid the state government in its mosquito-eradication drive, the central government was providing fogging machines, chemicals to be used for indoor and outdoor fogging and larvaecidal fish species, which had proven to be very effective in states such as Rajasthan and Maharashtra to kill mosquitoes and their larvae, he said.

Asked about a special package for Kerala, Dr Ramdoss said that his visit to Kerala today was to assess how the Centre could assist the state. ''Whatever assistance the state government seeks, will be provided,'' Dr Ramdoss added.

The minister said that a meeting of the union health, rural development, environment and other related ministries would be held to devise a strategy to supplement the National Rural Health Mission.

A senior health department official said a three-pronged strategy would be put in place in Kerala to tackle the Chikungunya situation.

The first priority would be to manage the fever cases, 95 per cent of which can be tackled at the community level with the distribution of paracetamol and B complex tablets and keeping the patients on plenty of fluids and normal diet.

On the second front, a vector management drive would be launched to eradicate mosquitoes. On the third level, a community awareness programme will be launched to educate people on the fever and the ways to tackle it.

UNI