MACHILIPATNAM: With the advent of the rainy season, dreaded viral diseases are troubling the people of Krishna district and as many as 102 malaria cases out of 106 have been recorded from Vijayawada alone. Against this backdrop, the district medical and health officials are gearing up to prevent spreading of viral diseases by taking up special drives.
Viral fevers like malaria and dengue besides diarrhoea are the most common problems, which affect people during rainy season. Since water contamination and unclean surroundings are the two major causes for most of the health issues this season, the health officials are concentrating on the same. Apart from the 106 malaria cases, the officials admitted that other viral diseases too have been reported from one or two places in the district due to issues pertaining to sanitation and water-borne diseases.
“We are preparing a report on sensitive areas where more numbers of cases related to monsoon were recorded last year. Already, a door-to-door survey has been conducted under the purview of all the 78 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to find out the symptoms of viral fevers. We are planning to launch special drives campaigns at rural areas soon,” informed Krishna District Medical Health Officer (DMHO) J Sarasajakshi.
To act well in advance, a 100-day action plan has been prepared by the government and the health officials have been directed to take up special measures on sanitation in coordination with the panchayat raj, rural water supply and municipal administration departments. The action plan released stresses on strict monitoring the water quality in villages and chlorination of the overhead reservoirs apart from giving wide publicity on water chlorination and storage of food in hygienic conditions.
“We have already contacted the panchayat raj and rural water supply officials regarding the supply of safe drinking water and maintenance of clean water in tanks. The first round of mosquito control activities are under progress, while the second round will be undertaken in the second week of August. All the epidemic medicines have been supplied in sufficient quantities to the PHCs. There is no shortage of chlorine tablets, ORS and IV fluids at PHCs and government hospitals. Also, Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits and anti malaria-drugs have been made available at levels and all our 900 ANMs have them,” said Sarasajakshi.
The DMHO also urged the people to make sure that they drink pure water, eat hygienic food and avoid fast food on streets. People should also make sure that water does not get stagnated around or in their houses. Special care has to be taken in case of children, she added.