Stating that the State goverment was taking all effective steps on a war footing to contain the spread of dengue, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday sought the cooperation of the public in its efforts.
“The State government has taken sincere initiatives to check the spread of dengue and other viral fevers. Some opposition parties are trying to create panic among the people, taking advantage of the present situation to make political gains. The people need not have any apprehension and should ignore the unwarranted statements of opposition leaders,” Mr. Palaniswami said while addressing the MGR centenary celebrations here on Saturday.
The CM said that the government had already procured 837 cell counters at an outlay of ₹23.5 crore for the government hospitals and primary health centres. The cell counters will be used for counting blood cells within a duration of a few seconds.
In case of dengue, by knowing the platelet count at the primary health care (PHC) level itself using the cell counters, patients can be managed in the early stage of fever and can be referred to higher institutions if needed. The referral to major hospitals from the PHCs will be zero in future because of the introduction of cell counters at block level, he said.
The State government is concentrating on appointing additional specialists to tackle the situation. Over 10,000 nurses were taking care of the dengue patients in the government hospitals and there were plans to recruit 700 doctors and 2,000 nurses, he said.
Following the outbreak of dengue, the State government initially roped in 25,000 field workers for undertaking cleaning activities in both the urban and rural centres on temporary basis a few months ago. An additional 15,000 field workers have been pressed into service, he added.
The government has launched a massive fogging operation and distribution of nilavembu kashayam has been intensified, he said.
