The district health administration has directed all health field staff to ensure that sufficient precautions are taken to prevent any outbreaks of infectious diseases, especially food-or-water-borne illnesses, in the wake of the Sabarimala pilgrimage season when a large number of people from outside the State are likely to congregate in the city.
District Medical Officer K.M. Sirabuddin said he had written to the city Corporation Secretary, requesting the civic body’s assistance in maintaining vigil on food safety and ensuring that the Public Health Act was implemented strictly.
The health field staff of the Health Department and the Corporation will conduct joint inspections and raids on eateries in the city in the coming weeks to ensure that hygiene was being maintained and safety precautions were being observed in the preparation of food.
Typhoid cases
The raids are being conducted as food-borne infections such as typhoid are increasingly being reported in the district.
The threat of outbreaks of water-borne infections such as Hepatitis A and cholera is also high, especially in areas where sanitation facilities are not proper and there is the possibility of sewage contamination in drinking water.
Against leptospirosis
The DMO said directions had been issued to all field staff to ensure that garbage accumulation did not lead to a spurt in leptospirosis.
Disinfectants or bleaching powder should be strewn in all places where garbage was being dumped to prevent the proliferation of rats, it has been directed.
