Dengue outbreak under-control: TN Health Minister

TN's Health Minister V.S. Vijay said that the dengue outbreak in the southern districts of the state has been contained to a large extent and sustained efforts are being made across the state to make Tamil Nadu 'mosquito-free'. "Our ultimate goal is to completely control the spreading of vector-borne diseases through these sustained measures to be taken-up throughout the year," Dr Vijay told reporters after chairing the review meeting that discussed the progress made so far in the battle against dengue outbreak in the southern districts of Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Tuticorin and Virudhunagar.

Dr Vijay said the intense steps had been taken by all the different governmet departments following special instructions by CM Jayalalithaa. Consequently, the impact of the outbreak had been contained up to 60 per cent while the mortality rate due to dengue had come down to 50 per cent in the dengue-hit districts.

While the Tirunelveli and the Sankarankovil health districts had lost 17 and 12 lives respectively to dengue, the entire State of Tamil Nadu saw the loss of 36 lives to the epidemic. Hence, intense anti-dengue operations had been launched across Tamil Nadu, especially in the southern districts, to minimize the impact.

"This is mainly due to the intensified anti-dengue operations conducted by all associated departments and the awareness programmes and rallies conducted in the affected areas," said the minister, who profusely thanked the media for creating awareness among the public on dengue.

He said the anti-dengue campaign would continue as the monsoon season was about to start in the state.

He also addressed the issue of private hospitals sending dengue patients to government ones in the final stages. He said that private hospitals had been warned against sending the dengue patients to the government hospitals in the final stage. "All private hospitals have been instructed to send immediately the dengue patients to the government hospitals where we've got very good facilities for diagnosis and treatment. Since some of the private hospitals sent the dengue patients who already had shock syndrome to the government hospitals, we could not save them. Private hospitals which have violated these instructions have been warned severely," he said.