Health authorities have taken up activities to sanitise cyclone affected areas at Chellanam to keep waterborne diseases at bay.
Bleaching powder has been distributed to each affected house and people have been told to disinfect interiors with the solution made in a concentration of 15 gm per litre of water. All household items, clothes, utensils and furniture have to be disinfected in a systematic manner to keep infections at bay, public health experts have said.
“Activities have begun on the coastline,” said Deputy District Medical Officer Dr. K.R. Vidya. “Cholera, typhoid and acute diarrhoeal diseases are among the most common outbreaks in such a situation,” she said.
While there are about 3000-odd houses at Chellanam where seawater has entered, there are over 2,000 houses that require some kind of repair in toilets. Over 600 houses have been identified where toilets were damaged beyond repair.
Since there are only laterine pits and no septic tanks in most of the houses, the groundwater seeps into the pits because of the high water table even as the sludge in the pits gets cleared.
Medical camps held
Medical camps were held on Tuesday at Chellanam and Nayarambalam. Community Medicine Department of Government Medical College, Ernakulam, had a team of 17 people including three doctors at Chellanam. “Doctors will be made available at night too,” said Dr. Vidya.
A meeting of the District Disaster Management Committee was held on Tuesday, which reviewed the activities so far. The Health Department had led a survey in the cyclone affected areas and its teams had visited 570 houses in eight wards with the help of ASHA workers. A full assessment with house-to-house survey would be completed soon, said District Health Officer P.N. Sreenivasan.
