Door-to-door health screening in six districts

: Following success of three-day door-to-door campaign in Jaipur to spread awareness to check seasonal diseases, the Rajasthan health department is planning to replicate the same in six other districts later this month.

Ajmer, Alwar, Bharatpur, Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Kota are six districts chosen for the exercise, an official said.

Additional chief secretary medical and health Veenu Gupta reviewed the situation of seasonal disease in the state and directed officials to organise door-to-door screening in the six districts, additional director (rural health) Ravi Prakash Mathur said on Wednesday.

He said ‘Swasthya dal aapke dwar’ (health team at your doorstep) organised in Jaipur for three days from February 26-28 has been successful therefore it will be organised in the six districts from March 21 to 23.

Rajasthan has become the capital of swine flu this year.

According to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), 1,353 cases of H1N1 influenza and 133 deaths were reported from across India from January 1 to March 4. Out of that 1,134 positive cases and 97 deaths were from Rajasthan.

According to the health department, from January 1 to March 8, 1,174 positive cases and 103 deaths have taken place in the state.

The worst affected districts is Jaipur with 745 positive case and 30 deaths, followed by Jodhpur with 91 positive cases and 17 deaths.

Mathur said the six districts where door-to-door screening will be done include Ajmer, Alwar, Bharatpur, Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Kota and in these districts cases and deaths due to swine flu were - Ajmer 44 positive cases and eight deaths; Alwar 41 cases and five deaths; Bharatpur five cases and two deaths; Sikar 17 and two deaths; Jhunjhunu 19 and cases two deaths and Kota 21 cases and five deaths.

During the three-day campaign in Jaipur from February 26 to 28, 1.69 lakh houses in 92 wards of Jaipur city and rural were visited in which more than 17,000 people were found suffering from fever, joint pain and influenza.

Meanwhile, dengue cases are also on the rise in the state. From January 1 to March 4, 742 cases have been reported from the state. Apart from dengue, 130 cases of malaria and 108 cases of chikungunya have also been reported.

Mathur said anti-larvae activities were being done to curb vector borne diseases.

“People are being made aware and asked not to get water accumulated in nearby areas. The department and local bodies are regularly fogging the affected areas,” he said.

JAIPUR