NEW DELHI: The Centre is constantly monitoring the situation in Maharashtra, following the State Government declaring an epidemic outbreak in the municipal areas of Mumbai and adjoining Thane districts on Thursday.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss discussed the situation with senior officials here on Thursday afternoon, following which teams of medical experts were mobilised to assist the Maharashtra Government.

The Centre has taken steps to strengthen the public health measures effected by the State Government. It had despatched a team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and a huge stock of drugs to Mumbai, a Health Ministry spokesperson said.

Bleaching powder sought

The State Government had pleaded for items such as bleaching powder, halazone, chloroquin, doxycyclin, IV fluids, ORS and other antibiotics and these had been despatched. Additional requirement for doxycyclin, crystalline pencillin and diagnostic kits for leptospirosis and dengue are being met immediately, according to the spokesperson.

Mr. Ramadoss spoke to the State Chief Secretary and Health Secretary.

A high-level team headed by the Additional Director-General Health Services, Director of NICD, Shiv Lal and director of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme will leave for Mumbai on Friday. Water treatment equipment of the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), capable of purifying 10,000 litres of water a day, have been airlifted from Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai to Mumbai.

Family kits sent

Machinery of higher capacity are also being procured by the Society. It has also sent 5,000 family kits comprising temporary shelters, clothes and utensils for families rendered homeless.

The NICD team which arrived in Mumbai on Thursday visited Kalyan-Dombivili Municipal Corporation area, one of the worst-affected municipalities in Thane district and handed over the charter of public health measures formulated by the Indian Council for Medical Research to the Maharashtra Health Department.

Team from Pune

The guidelines are to be adopted particularly in the case of vector-borne diseases. A team from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, had joined the NICD team in Mumbai, the spokesperson said.

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