Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Homoeo drugs distributed in three districts

By M.L. Melly Maitreyi

HYDERABAD July 24. As doctors and medical experts are unable to pinpoint the virus causing the mystery fever resulting in the mounting toll, the Government's Department of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy has completed the first phase of Homoeopathic Prevention Programme for Japanese Encephalitis.

Launched on a massive scale on the lines of the Pulse Polio programme, the free distribution of Belladona-200, Calcarea Carb-200 and Tuberculinum-10m (BCT) was completed in Adilabad, Karimnagar and Khammam in the first phase. Now the distribution is on in the remaining 19 districts.

The Commissioner, T. Janardhan Naidu, and Additional Director (Homoeopathy), G.Ramakrishna, told The Hindu that the preventive homoeopathy medicine taken as per the advised dose would be effective for one year. The medicine is being distributed through the network of primary health centres, community health centres of the Department of Health and Homoeopathic dispensaries of the IM&H Department besides Social Welfare, Education departments and NGOs.

The Government has also issued instructions to the district collectors and District Medical and Health Officers to ensure the effective distribution of preventive medicine.

Though only three cases so far had been diagnosed as that of Japanese Encephalitis, homoeopathy medicine would be effective in preventing brain fever caused by other virus too. The preventive homoeopathy medicine would not require any dietary restrictions, Dr. Ramakrishna said.

Patients already showing symptoms of brain fever should consult the chief homoeopathic doctors of the respective districts. Special wards were also set up at homoeopathy hospitals in Hyderabad, Gudivada, Cuddapah and Rajahmundry for the treatment of patients affected by brain fever, he said.

He said that the efficacy of homoeopathic medicine had been proved when two expert teams had studied the impact of BCT in the prevention of Japanese Encephalitis in the peak period of its virulence in 1999. Two independent pilot projects carried out in Kurnool district and Miryalaguda mandal in Nalgonda on 10,000 children proved the efficacy of the BCT. The Government also evolved a long-term action plan on the basis of these extensive studies in those districts.

The preventive programme was now extended to all the districts on a war footing as the disease had assumed menacing proportions, he said.

The disease spread by mosquitoes would affect children mostly in the age group of 5 to 10 years and sometimes those in the age group of 3 to 14 years. The incidence of the disease would be high during August to December. Clean surroundings to curb breeding of mosquitoes and safe drinking water were other important measures to check the spread of the disease.

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