The Hindu : Front Page : Funds sought to control chikungunya

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Funds sought to control chikungunya

Shastry V. Mallady

precaution: R.C. Mahajan (right), Research Professor at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, releasing public awareness material in Madurai on Saturday. S. Elango, Joint Director of Public Health (Tamil Nadu), is rec eiving it. —

MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Government has sought Rs.15 crore from the Centre exclusively for carrying out measures to prevent chikungunya and to break the vector transmission.

A proposal to this effect was submitted by the Health Minister, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, to the Union Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, during a meeting of officials from chikungunya-affected States in New Delhi on June 21.

The Joint Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, S. Elango, told The Hindu here on Saturday that the Health Department was “anticipating” some vector activity in Tamil Nadu also in view of the chikungunya cas es in Kerala.

“In this budget proposal, we also included Rs. 50 lakh for siddha drugs meant for chikungunya fever because the Indian System of Medicine is considered effective,” he said. Dr. Elango was here to take part in a meeting on control of vector-borne diseases, organised by the Centre for Research in Medical Entomology (CRME), a unit of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

He said that a delegation from the State, led by the Health Minister, made a presentation to officials of Union Health Ministry on the steps taken to control chikungunya in all districts.

Stating that managing the fever cases required more attention, he pointed out that the State Government had already urged people not to go for any sort of ‘medical shop treatment.’

The model adopted by Tamil Nadu for preventing vector-borne diseases came in for praise from the Central Government .

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page