Diarrhea, dengue rising in Kerala, says health ministry

According to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC)- a corporation that tabulates data on vector-borne diseases, 2 cases of malaria were reported in February, 1 each in April as well as March, 25 in June and 29 till July 21st. All in all, there is an urgent and stronger need of action.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday has announced that there is a spike in the number of cases of leptospirosis, acute diarrhea and dengue in the flood-hit state of Kerala and that the Centre is closely monitoring the situation.

The Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda along with other ministry officials reviewed flood relief measures and said the Centre is coordinating with the state. According to the ministry, the Centre will be sending 30 specialist doctors, 20 general duty medical officers and 40 Malayalam-speaking nurses who will be arriving in Kerala on Friday. "Also, 12 public health teams, each comprising one public health specialist, a microbiologist and one entomologist are being deployed to assist the state health department in various public health measures," it said.

The Centre has so far supplied 73 MT of essential emergency drugs. "As per the additional request received from Kerala, 58 items of essential drugs/consumables weighing about 120 MT, and 40 ultra low volume (ULV) fogging machines are also being sent to the state," the Ministry said.

Dengue and Diarrhea have been major health concerns for the ministry since long. Nadda had earlier written a letter to the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal early this month emphasizing on the need to implement preventive measure to check the spread of dengue and other vector-borne diseases reportedly. A lot of vector-borne diseases, especially dengue and malaria spread in monsoon season . "It has been observed from the reports received by us that the number of dengue and malaria cases in Delhi is on the rise in recent times," Nadda reportedly said in his letter.

Statistics:

• As of July 30, 13 cases of dengue and 18 cases of chikungunya have been reported in Delhi, only in the month of July.
• According to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC)- a corporation that tabulates data on vector-borne diseases:

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  - 2 cases of malaria were reported in February, 1 each in April as well as March, 25 in June and 29 till July 21st.

All in all, there is an urgent and stronger need of action.

(with inputs from IANS)