BHUBANESWAR:Even as Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is haunting the State administration for the last more than a month and kids affected with the disease continue to die, a Central team that visited Malkangiri district to take stock of the situation, on Monday said the prevalence rate of the deadly virus is steadily coming down.
Joint director of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) Dr Kalpana Baruah, who led the six-member team, said the disease has been brought under control. ‘’Now there are sporadic cases of the disease. The situation has improved,’’ she told reporters after a meeting with Health and Family Welfare Minister Pradip Amat.
The Central team had visited the worst-hit areas and interacted with affected people. Baruah said the State Government has taken every possible step to curb outbreak of the vector-borne disease. The district administration is doing a good job as well. Not only Malkangiri, the district administration of Koraput has also taken adequate measures to prevent the disease, she said. On mass vaccination, Dr Baruah said, the decision will be taken at a joint meeting next month.
‘’However, there will be a training programme for health staff before vaccination starts. The training programme will be conducted in the second week of November,’’ she said and added that the State will be provided one crore long-lasting insecticide treated net (LLIN) in December.
The Central team has collected samples of patients which will be sent for tests. The team toured the district for three days to review the measures taken by the State administration after the outbreak of JE.
The team had visited Palakonda, Babli and Koimetol villages and a few hospitals. They had also visited the district headquarters hospital to inspect health condition of patients and held talks with the hospital staff.
On Monday, one more child succumbed to the disease taking the death toll to 66 in 45 days. The deceased was identified as Manoj Baraja (5) of Barajaguda village. He died while undergoing treatment in the district headquarters hospital at Malkangiri.