The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Major role for community in maintaining public health, says Collector

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Wednesday, Jan 06, 2010
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Major role for community in maintaining public health, says Collector

Special Correspondent

THANJAVUR: People have a major role to play in maintaining good public health, said M.S. Shanmugham, Collector, here on Wednesday.

Speaking at the A (HINI) Influenza awareness programme organised by the Directorate of Field Publicity, he said that Government could organise campaign, distribute pamphlets, but only people could maintain their locality and environment clean. Follow hygienic methods and keep the diseases at bay, the Collector appealed.

In countries like Singapore, public health department officials visit houses and check whether they are kept clean. If they find it untidy they slap fine on the inmates of the house.

In India, which is a bigger country and has the largest population in the world, people alone could help by practising cleanliness.

In Thanjavur district, the impact of A(HINI) Influenza was almost nil as precautionary measures have been taken. The Collector said that too much of awareness or for that matter complete of lack of it - both extremities were dangerous. Too much of awareness would cause panic while casual attitude might invite infection.The Collector released an awareness pamphlet on the occasion and distributed prizes to students who won in essay and elocution competitions held to create awareness about A(HINI).

T. Sivakumar, Regional Officer of Field Publicity, said that surveillance and checking was done at 11 international airports in the country to check spread of A(HINI) Influenza. A total of 1.01 crore people have been checked. Out of them lab tests were conducted on 1,13,166 persons and 26,133 had the infection. Only 974 deaths were reported.

The Directorate of Field Publicity had organised awareness camps so far in Thanjavur, Vellore, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Madurai districts. Campaign would be held in Salem district also.

K. Mathivanan, Deputy Director of Health, K.V. Arjun Kumar, Municipal Health Officer, and others spoke.

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