The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Disease surveillance project to cover southern districts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 20, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Disease surveillance project to cover southern districts

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, SEPT. 19. An Integrated Disease Surveillance Project, which will provide data to detect symptoms of impending epidemics, will be implemented in nine States in a month's time, Anbumani Ramadoss, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, said today.

Addressing mediapersons here, he said the Rs. 408-crore project would include all southern States in the first phase, cover all districts in the country in three phases and would be completed by 2007.

The project aimed to identify the emerging diseases at an early stage, strengthening laboratories in all hospitals of district headquarters. The laboratories would monitor communicable and non-communicable diseases, such as cholera, measles and typhoid.

The Ministry allotted Rs. 26 crores for Tamil Nadu, which would be covered this year. District surveillance units would be computerised to provide data on disease outbreak to State and Central authorities. The project would rope in village panchayats to reach out to the rural population. A village health registry would be set up for identifying the diseases.

Blindness control

Dr. Anbumani said the Revamped National Programme on Blindness Control aimed at reducing the prevalence of the disease to 0.8 per cent by 2007. The Rs. 445-crore project also aimed at increasing voluntary eye donations. At present, only 25,000 eyes were being donated every year against the demand for one lakh eyes. Pointing out that the programme facilitated controlling avoidable blindness, he said that of the 42 lakh cataract operations performed last year, 85 per cent were intra ocular lens (IOL) surgeries. Prominence would be given to IOL implantation in 2.11 crore cataract surgeries planned for the tenth Five Year Plan.

Fighting AIDS

On AIDS control, Dr.Anbumani said a reassessment survey of the prevalence of the disease would be conducted in about six months through an external agency. Besides increasing antiretroviral therapy for patients, the Government would give top priority to awareness programmes. A national conference for student unions would be organised in Delhi in November.

Denying reports that intake of filariasis tablets caused deaths in Tamil Nadu recently, he said an enquiry committee had been set up and the cause would be known in a week.

He underlined the need for adopting the National Board of Examination system for postgraduate medical courses in Tamil Nadu.

The Union Minister was in the city to take part in a conference organised by Pattali Maanavar Sangam to discuss education policies. The speakers, including Dr.Anbumani, and the Pattali Makkal Katchi leader, S.Ramadoss, called for revising the fee structure and the examination policy to ensure the quality of education and to put an end to commercialisation. They said rural students must have equal access to quality education.

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