Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader has said that the department will soon upload on its website a list of blood banks where platelets for dengue patients will be made available at free of cost.
Addressing a gathering here on Wednesday after inaugurating an awareness drive on preventing dengue and malaria, the Minister said that in some cases doctors were prescribing administration of platelets to dengue patients unnecessarily. Caretakers of patients panic and rush to private blood banks and purchase platelets at high prices, making dengue treatment costly. To prevent this, the health department would soon formulate guidelines on treating dengue patients. The guidelines would specify about platelet counts required in blood and when it needed to be externally administered.
Mr. Khader asked health officials to keep malaria treatment kits ready. He asked officials to take preventive measures such as conducting routine checks of buildings under construction to drain stagnated water, draining out water from tender coconut shells and tyres, etc.
He released a handbook with answers for frequently asked questions on malaria. A street play had been organised on the occasion.
Earlier, speaking to media at Mangala stadium, he said that a unit to treat sports injuries would be opened at Sanjay Gandhi Trauma Centre, Bengaluru, within three months.
The Minister said that it would have doctors trained in treating sports injuries. The government had purchased equipment required for treating persons with sports injuries, he said.
“We want sportsmen to be treated quickly so that they will not remain away from sports activities for long,” he said.
Mr. Khader said that four doctors trained in treating sports injuries would be stationed at Mangala Stadium to treat athletes if they suffered any injuries during the five-day National Senior Athletic Championship starting from April 30.
