NEW DELHI
The Centre on November 23 set up high-level teams to tackle the measles outbreak in Ranchi, Ahmedabad and Malappuram.
The teams will assist the respective State Health Departments in instituting public health measures and facilitate operationalisation of requisite control and containment measures.
Senior Regional Directors of Regional Offices of Health and Family Welfare of Jharkhand, Gujarat and Kerala will coordinate with the respective teams regarding their visits.
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The Central team to Ranchi in Jharkhand comprises of experts from the capital’s National Centre for Disease Control and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The team to Ahmedabad in Gujarat has experts from the city’s Regional Office of Health and Family Welfare, Mumbai’s Port Health Organisation, and Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital in Delhi.
While Kerala’s Malappuram team consists of experts from the Regional Health office, Thiruvananthapuram; Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry; and Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi; the Union Health Ministry said. All the teams will have three members each.
The teams will also undertake field visits to investigate the outbreak. They are also expected to coordinate with the States for ensuring active case search in the area and with Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories for testing the identified cases.
Measles vaccination falls under the Universal Immunisation Programme. India has a target of eliminating the viral disease by 2023.
Earlier, after Mumbai reported a spike in measles cases, the Centre had sent a team. Eleven children have already succumbed to the highly infectious disease in the financial capital.
