The Hindu : National : Manmohan reviews dengue, chikungunya situation

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Friday, Nov 03, 2006
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National

Manmohan reviews dengue, chikungunya situation

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for restructuring of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) to transform it into an early warning system for the outbreak of epidemics.

Reviewing the recent outbreak of vector-borne diseases including dengue and chikungunya here on Thursday, Dr. Singh said the IDSP would be made accountable for any failures in this regard. He asked the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry to issue regular health alerts and health bullets for public awareness so as to enable pre-emptive action being taken both at the community level and the level of the household.

So far, 152 people have died and 9,161 have taken ill because of the dengue outbreak in the country. More than 55 people have died of dengue in the Capital alone and 2,778 afflicted from the disease.

On the chikungunya front, 1,689 confirmed cases, including 34 from the Capital have been reported though there have been no deaths. The worst affected states were Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka.

Dr. Singh instructed the Ministries concerned that funds under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and the national Rural Health Mission should also be utilized for pre-emptive public health intervention at the community level and for undertaking sanitation and disease prevention programmes.

The Prime Minister called for observance of one day in a year as national cleanliness and public health day in which community level action could be taken to prevent epidemics. Dr. Singh urged the media to play a positive role by creating awareness and desist from creating panic in the community.

Of the 1,057 cases from outside Delhi, 327 cases are from Haryana, 570 cases from Uttar Pradesh, 22 cases from Rajasthan and 138 from others.

The highest number of dengue cases have been reported from Rajasthan (1224) followed by Kerala (849), West Bengal (820), Punjab (809), Uttar Pradesh (604), Maharashtra (582), Gujarat (475), Haryana (395), Tamil Nadu (324) Andhra Pradesh (97) and Karnataka (92).

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