In spite of pre-monsoon preparations from January, the battle against communicable diseases have turned out to be tough for the State, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said. But the State’s health services had been stretching themselves to treat patients. Help had been sought from forums such as the Indian Medical Association, she said.
Addressing the media here on Sunday, she downplayed the call by the Leader of the Opposition for declaring a health care emergency. She said it was not the time to play politics and there was no need to frighten people with such statements. A special Cabinet meet on the issue was not required either.
It was a cause of concern that 115 people had died this season in the State but the numbers had to be considered along with the co-morbid conditions of certain patients suffering from other ailments, said the Minister. It was because of the training provided to health officers and health workers and protocols provided for treatment of dengue, H1N1, and other communicable diseases that the casualties could be limited, she said.
The State had so far confirmed 6,808 dengue cases with 13 deaths, 11,624,62 cases of ordinary fever with 22 deaths, 764 cases of H1N1 with 51 deaths, and 631 cases of leptospirosis with seven deaths.
Control unit in capital
She said a control unit in the Health Services would begin functioning in Thiruvananthapuram that would coordinate information from all districts. People’s involvement along with the Health Department’s activities had shown good results in reducing the breeding sources of mosquitoes. “I had informed all the elected representatives through a letter to take precautions against the impending cyclic high in diseases in their constituencies and bring to notice issues that needed Ministerial intervention,” she said.