With six persons including two three-year old children testing positive for dengue, the Salem district administration in coordination with Health and Civic officials has chalked out a detailed prevention cum control programme here on Sunday.
While six persons from Salem and its neighbourhood were undergoing treatment at the special ward of the Salem Government Medical College Hospital for the past two days, two more - a three-year old child from Salem Ponnammapet and a youth from Kadathur in Dharmapuri district - had also been admitted with dengue symptoms.
Their blood samples were sent to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital as the Salem Government Hospital despite having Super Speciality status lacked the testing facility for dengue fever, pointed out a senior doctor.
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The authorities, the doctor said, had already approached the Health officials at Chennai to extend the facility to Salem hospital for effective treatment.
A high-level meeting chaired by State Highways Minister K. Palanisamy and attended by Salem MP S. Semmalai and Mayor S. Soundappan, officials from Salem Corporation, Department of Health and Revenue, on Sunday, had decided to intensify the awareness campaign.
At the Erode Government Hospital, a special ward with 50 beds has been established with facilities to treat dengue cases.
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The ward would function round the clock and a special team of doctors and paramedical personnel would provide treatment to the persons admitted in the ward, officials in the department of health said.
The department had taken this initiative as the number of dengue cases had gone up significantly.
In the last two weeks alone, the district reported 10 dengue positive cases.
On Sunday, five suspected cases of dengue were recorded in different parts of the district.