The Health Department has set up an infectious diseases management cell to tackle the threat of disease outbreaks and fever epidemics in the State.
Deputy Director (FW) G. Sunilkumar and P.S. Indu, Associate Professor of Community Medicine, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, will be in charge of the Cell, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar announced after a meeting of senior health officials here on Friday.
It has been decided to convene meetings of officials of various departments at every panchayat to decide the disease prevention and control strategies. Each ward will get Rs.25,000 for taking up prevention measures. Junior public health nurses and junior health inspectors will lead the disease prevention measures at the ward-level, while medical officers at primary health centres will coordinate the activities.
All panchayats have been asked to convene meetings of ward-level sanitation committees and assess the infectious diseases situation before May 6. These committees should identify locations where infectious diseases have been reported and potential spots where there can be disease outbreaks and focus prevention measures at these areas.
The district-level review meetings will be held on May 15.
All necessary equipment and chemicals for source reduction and mosquito control will be provided by the panchayat ward-level committees. The Integrated Disease Control Programme (IDSP) cells under the Deputy District Medical Officers in each district will monitor the implementation.
Rapid Response Teams have also been set up, including doctors from medical colleges, for launching disease control and prevention programmes in areas where dengue, hepatitis B or other infectious diseases outbreaks are reported.
The services of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Alappuzha National Institute of Virology, Virology Institute at Manipal and Vector Control Research Centre at Pondicherry will be sought as and when necessary.
Mr. Sivakumar said a meeting of senior officials and including the Urban Affairs Minister will be convened on April 30 to assess the disease prevention and control measures to be adopted in corporations and municipalities.
