Amid reports of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) or ‘tomato flu’ in Kerala, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan on Friday urged the public not to panic as the Health Department was monitoring the situation across the State.
He visited the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on Friday evening, where he inspected the construction works of the seven-storey super-speciality block that is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
He told mediapersons that ‘tomato flu’ is an “undifferentiated fever,” which affects children below five years of age and the recovery is quick.
Fever monitoring, especially at the 13 inter-state border districts, is being carried out and all the districts are being monitored on a daily basis by the Health Department. He advised the public not to consume artificially ripened mangoes.
Noting that COVID-19 cases were on the decline, Mr. Radhakrishnan urged the public to continue adherence to safety protocols and get vaccinated.
On the importance of vaccination, he said the recent COVID-19 clusters at IIT-Madras in Chennai and the Sathya Sai Medical College in Chengalpattu district were brought under control in a short span of time as most of the students were vaccinated. “Both these cases show that we should continue to remain careful,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Radhakrishnan told reporters in Tiruppur that over 3,000 stalls selling shawarma have been inspected across all districts following the death of a girl in Kerala after consuming the dish. He also denied rumours of shawarma being banned in the State.
He said that through the 11 medical colleges that were recently inaugurated, including the Government Medical College Hospital in Tiruppur, there will be 1,450 additional postings of doctors in the State.
Mr. Radhakrishnan distributed tablet computers to five undergraduate medical students at the Tiruppur Government Medical College Hospital, who got admissions through the 7.5% horizontal reservation for NEET-qualified students from government schools.
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