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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Govt must be told about all dengue cases


MUMBAI: It will be mandatory for doctors (private and government) to inform the state administration about dengue cases. Worried with the increasing cases of dengue, especially in Mumbai, the public health department on Friday issued an order that all doctors must inform the government about the dengue cases they come across.

"Information of dengue patients should be given to the state administration.
In order to ensure effective implementation of the order, the department has asked the officials concerned to organize a workshop for private doctors," public health minister Suresh Shetty, said.

Alarmed with the rising cases of dengue in Mumbai and other parts of the state, Shetty on Friday had called a meeting of health officials on Friday.The meeting chaired by Shetty was attended T C Benjamin (additional chief secretary, health) and senior health officials from the BMC attended the meeting.

In August alone 110 cases tested dengue positive. In the first three week of September 136 citizens in the city have tested positive for dengue.

"Malaria and dengue are mosquito-borne diseases. The efforts taken by the BMC to control malaria have resulted in a 70% decline in the cases compared with last year. Similar efforts have been taken to tackle dengue.The BMC has identified pockets in the city that has seen a rise in dengue cases. Measures have been initiated to control the further spread of the disease," said BMC additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar-Patankar.

On October 5, a meeting of the additional chief secretary (health) and BMC officials has been organized to work out modalities for controlling dengue, a press release issued by the health department said.

Additional chief secretary (health) T C Benjamin during the meeting suggested that 10% of the total advertisement hoardings in Mumbai should be reserved for health-related messages to be communicated to citizens.

Further in the meeting, Shetty suggested health check-up for the labourers working on construction sites should be made mandatory. "The onus of health check-up should be put on the contractor concerned," Shetty said.

The minister further instructed the civic officials to take focus on cleanliness drive in slum pockets, construction sites and areas known for waterlogging, so that the further spread of the disease could be controlled.

With winter season beginning from the next month the temperature will be on its way down and thus resulting in rise of swine flu cases. "With drop in mercury spread of swine flu is likely to increase. Hence, in the health department in the meeting reviewed swine flu cases and its preparation to deal the situation," the official added.

Source:- The Times of India

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