The Hindu : National : Anbumani to visit Gorakhpur today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 01, 2005

National

National

Anbumani to visit Gorakhpur today

Special Correspondent

More than 300 children died in the past month and another 600 are said to be affected

NEW DELHI: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss will visit Japanese encephalitis-affected Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday to take stock of the situation. Senior Health Ministry officials will accompany him. More than 300 children have died in the past one month and another 600 are reported to be suffering from the disease in the district. The disease is now spreading to the neighbouring districts also.

"A team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the Directorate-General of Health Services (DGHS) has already visited the area and I will now personally review the situation to see what more the Centre can do for the hospitals there,'' Dr. Ramadoss said here on Wednesday. He said the most effective way of checking the disease from spreading was intensive fogging for which the Ministry would provide more machines. We are coordinating with the State Government and will provide them with ventilators also, he added.

Describing the epidemic as an "avoidable disease,'' Mr. Ramadoss said that if there had been awareness the disease would not have taken such a serious form. "We need to segregate piggeries from human settlements as the virus comes from pigs,'' the Minister said adding that segregation should be a priority.

On vaccines, Mr. Ramadoss said these were a preventive option and would not be of any help now. "Depending on the safety and effectiveness, we may allow the import of tissue culture vaccine from China.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National