Kochi Corporation Mayor Soumini Jain has appealed to private hospitals in the city to set aside profit motive when it came to treating the urban poor in the wake of an outbreak of various types of fevers.
Her appeal came at a meeting of representatives of various sections of society on Tuesday to discuss ways to combat the spread of fever in the city with the rains intensifying.
The Mayor said a month-long intensive campaign was being launched to combat mosquitoes and mosquitoe-borne diseases.
She said private hospitals in the city could consider providing the urban poor, with an annual income of ₹50,000 or below, blood and other tests and access to medicines at concessional rates.
The corporation is setting up three septage treatment plants.
Detailed project reports on the plants would be ready and work on the plants were expected to begin by the end of the year, Ms. Jain said. The treatment plants are coming up in Divisions 15, 16 and 17 of the corporation. The Union government’s Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) programme will be used to build the septage treatment plants, the Mayor added. Only about five to six per cent of the waste is being covered by treatment plants at present.
She said eight committees to monitor health and waste disposal activities were being set up. They will be headed by standing committee chairpersons and falls under Fort Kochi, Palluruthy, Edappaly, Central Zone, Vyttila and Vaduthala areas.
