With admission into the special wards to treat dengue patients functioning in the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital on the rise, the hospital management has opened yet another air-conditioned special ward exclusively for children and has also set up toll-free telephone facility at the hospital.
Both the facilities started functioning from Thursday. According to official sources, the new air-conditioned ward has been opened following repeated pleas from the public, as the existing wards were overflowing and more and more people approaching for admission from Salem and the neighbouring districts ever since the out-break of dengue a few months ago.
Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar, who visited the hospital recently, directed the opening of a new ward exclusively for children.
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About 20 specialists, who have arrived here from other parts of the State along with equal number of postgraduate medical students, had been treating the children admitted to the special ward round the clock, the sources said.
District Collector Rohini R. Bhajibhakare inaugurated the toll-free telephone facility with number 1800 425 2424.
In a statement issued here, the Collector stated that people could call the toll-free number for collecting details on how to differentiate between ordinary fever and viral fever, the treatment to be given in the initial stages of dengue and other viral fevers and also get other doubts clarified. The facility would function round the clock.
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Ms. Rohini conducted a surprise check in Mecheri block on Wednesday and spotted rainwater stagnating in a cement tubs manufacturing unit. She slapped a fine of ₹ 25,000 on the owner for his failure to eradicate the mosquito breeding sources, official sources said.