The government has transferred 50 acres of land at Sederapet to the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) for establishing a super specialty multi-organ transplant centre, Minister for Health Malladi Krishna Rao said on Wednesday.
The land handed over to Jipmer was part of the 303 hectares of land acquired by the government in 2006 for setting up a special economic zone in the revenue districts of Sederapet and Karasur. The land remained idle for 13 years following objections raised by the Centre over establishing a SEZ project in a non-contiguous area.
Jipmer was in the process of preparing a detailed project report for setting up the multi-organ transplant centre, the Minister told reporters after flagging off six mobile publicity audio vans to create awareness on dengue prevention measures.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had sanctioned ₹580 crore for establishing the centre. The hospital project, besides giving a major fillip to the health sector here, would pave way for the development of Sederapet-Karasur area as the Ministry would be investing close to ₹1,000 crore , the Minister said.
Dengue control
The Minister said after the 2017 dengue outbreak, the Health Department along with civic authorities had initiated a slew of measures to prevent the spread of the vector borne-disease.
Sunderarajan, State Programme Officer, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, told The Hindu that the number of dengue cases in Puducherry had been declining since 2017.
That year, dengue incidence was at its peak and as many as 4,568 positive cases were reported. Seven people succumbed to the disease, he said. The number of people who tested positive declined to 588 in 2018 and there were two deaths reported in the year.
As on June 25, this year, as many as 291 dengue cases were reported, Mr. Sunderarajan said.
Seeking cooperation from the public in preventing the vector-borne disease, he said dengue-causing aedes aegypti mosquito breeds only in fresh water.
The mosquito could breed in stagnant water anywhere, inside or outside the house and it bites during daytime. People should take measures to avoid stagnation of fresh water, he said.
Mr. Rao also handed over a new ambulance procured for the primary health centre at Bahour to local legislator N. Danavelou and flagged off a mental health awareness rally by school students.
