Seasonal diseases surface, heath officials on alert
JAIPUR: Cases of dengue and swine flu are declining, but Veenu Gupta (health dept additional chief secretary) has asked the officials to be vigilant and alert in regard to seasonal diseases.
DR RAVI PRAKASH MATHUR , Additional director, rural health
Health department additional chief secretary Veenu Gupta on Monday asked the department officials to remain alert towards seasonal diseases.
Gupta was addressing joint directors, chief medical and health officers (CMHOs), deputy CMHOs and principal medical officers through a video conference.
In last one week, 81 cases of dengue, 36 cases of malaria and 19 cases and of swine flu including three deaths have been reported.
During the period, the most dengue cases (36 ) have been reported from Jaipur, followed by seven each in Kota and Barmer, six in Bharatpur, four each in Alwar, Karauli and Sikar and one or two cases from other districts of the state. Similarly, the maximum (seven) swine flu cases have been reported from Udaipur, three in Jaipur, two each in Kota, Baran, Bundi and one each in Dausa and Chittorgarh districts.
Gupta asked the officials, especially of Jaipur and Kota districts, to make field visits and cross verify at least 10% of the reported cases.
Additional director, rural health, Dr Ravi Prakash Mathur said that from January 1 till date, there have 1,309 positive cases of swine flu including 116 deaths, 1,017 cases of dengue including two deaths, 223 cases of malaria, 117 cases of chikungunya and 75 cases of scrub typhus. “The cases of dengue and swine flu are declining, but still Veenu Gupta has asked the officials to be vigilant and alert in regard to seasonal diseases,” said Dr Mathur.
He said Gupta has asked doctors and medical staff to work in coordination, citing that urban areas have more challenges in controlling seasonal diseases compared to rural areas because of slums and population density.
He said the rate of annual parasite incidence (API) of malaria should be less than 2 and it is 0.14 in Rajasthan. There are a few districts, where the rate of API is above 2 such as Dungarpur, Udaipur, Pratapgarh, Barmer and Kota, where the officials have been directed to remain alert and get the fogging done at regular intervals.
He has that the department has appealed to people not to allow water to stagnate and to regularly clean trays under flowerpots and refrigerators, water pots kept for birds , coolers etc, so that mosquitoes can’t breed.
The doctor asked people to be careful. “If a person suffers from cold, cough, running nose, diarrhoea, vomiting, headache, fever, body pain, difficulty in breathing etc they should immediately contact the doctor at nearby primary health centre, community health centre, satellite hospital or district hospital ,” Dr Mathur said.