Ma Subramanian addresses review meeting on dengue prevention

CHENNAI: Health minister Ma Subramanian addressed the state level review meeting on dengue prevention and control activities in Tamil Nadu at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital in Omandurar on Saturday. The minister said that there is no need to panic but preventive measures are being taken to avoid any outbreak.

The top officials from the state health department attended the meeting. The minister addressed the meeting stating that it is normal for the incidence of diseases like dengue and malaria to increase in the months like September, October and November before monsoon.

He said that Chief Minister had released a guideline book before monsoon on preventive measures to prevent mosquito breeding and control the spread last year and the state health department, rural and urban local administration, along with the secretaries of the government departments and their respective district administrative officers attended a review meeting to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. This helped in reducing the incidence of dengue for the past one year.

He said that there is no major outbreak like previous years, 13,204 cases were reported in 2015 and 66 deaths, while in 2017, the number of dengue cases were 23,294. Tamil Nadu had the highest incidence of dengue in India in 2017 and Chief Minister has stated that Tamil Nadu should have better management of cases and there should be no outbreak.

We have been working towards the prevention and control of dengue cases since the beginning of September this year.

The minister said that the meeting was held with officials from Public Works Department, State Health Department, Rural Development and Urban Development Department, besides dean and joint directors of all government medical colleges all over Tamil Nadu.

A total of 296 officers including Deputy Directors, Health Officers of the Corporation participated in the meeting.

He added that the 3-month period following the current risk to dengue is the time to be most cautious. The meeting discussed to work on reducing the level of water stagnation with the onset of monsoon and to monitor the water accumulated in the construction works of the public works department.

The officials discussed the means to create awareness among the public and to take measures to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes in the residential and commercial areas.