Attention should be given to the prevention of communicable diseases even in the midst of the fight against COVID-19, Minister for Health K.K. Shylaja has said.
The Minister was presiding over a meeting on pre-monsoon cleaning as part of the ‘dry day’ observance here on Sunday.
She said National Dengue Day on Sunday was being implemented as a dry day on the directions of the Chief Minister. The government had decided to observe dry days frequently, instead of a single day. This would help in source-reduction activities to check proliferation of mosquitoes.
Personal hygiene and clean surroundings were also important. Regular cleaning and chlorination should continue. Local self-government institutions should take the lead in organising these activities. Ward members should conduct inspections in every ward.
Junior public health nurse, junior health inspectors, and ASHA workers, along with volunteers, should support them. The Minister said clean-ups and vector source-reduction should be taken up to gear up for the monsoon. The surroundings of centres where COVID-19 people were accommodated should be cleaned up, Ms. Shylaja said.
She warned that as the possibility of leptospirosis, dengue, and other fevers was high during this time, people should not remain under the impression that fever was caused by COVID-19. Without correct treatment, these could even result in death.
There was also need to arrange for adequate human resources and materials to fight the communicable diseases along with the pandemic, the Minister said.
As part of the Arogya Jagratha campaign to prevent communicable diseases in association with local bodies in line with the slogan ‘everyday prevention,’ steps to be taken every day were charted and implemented.
In plantation areas, source reduction activities should be taken up by the local bodies with the support of owners and workers.
With more cases of leptospirosis being reported during the rains and in places that are inundated, those coming in contact with water, particularly sanitation workers and rescue workers, should be administered doxycycline by health workers.
Water used in camps should be clean. Only boiled water should be used for drinking. Cleanliness should be ensured in places where migrant workers live, and in their camps, the Minister said.
