Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Chikungunya claims four more lives

Disease has spread to more areas in Alappuzha

Thiruvananthapuram: Four more persons died of chikungunya in Alappuzha and Kottayam districts, taking the toll to 50 in the State.

The Health Department machinery has been pressed into service to tackle the situation, as cases were also reported in Ernakulam and Thrissur districts, official sources said.

Reports said the disease had spread to more areas in Alappuzha, such as Mavelikara and Kayamkulam. Another report from Thrissur said eight persons were admitted to hospitals with symptoms of the viral fever. — PTI

Disease-control steps

Special Correspondent writes:

Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy toured Cherthala and Ambalappuzha taluks in Alappuzha district on Saturday, reviewing the measures taken by the State Government to combat the outbreak of chikungunya.

An official press release said that Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran and Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac too visited hospitals in these taluks, where many people were under treatment for the disease.

Ms. Sreemathy instructed the health officials to start admitting the affected people to primary health centres at villages such as Thykkattusserri, Kalavoor and Ezhupunna, situated around Cherthala town, since the government hospital at Cherthala was already crowded with patients. The primary health centres did not usually take inpatients.

The press release said that adequate number of doctors and nurses had been posted to all hospitals and primary health centres in the affected areas. There was also no shortage of medicines.

The Health Minister called meetings of the representatives of local bodies in Cherthala taluk on Saturday to mobilise sanitation and mosquito control efforts at the local level. Five doctors each from nearby districts of Kollam, Kottayam and Ernakulam had been posted to Alappuzha district. They would assist the doctors in Alappuzha district till the disease was brought under control, the press release said.

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