Guv lauds Kerala's fight against Nipah

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The containment of Nipah outbreak in a record time proved the strength of Kerala's health sector, governor P Sathasivam said. The health department's caution didn't end with containing the disease but continue till the virus was eradicated, he said while inaugurating the national conference of student medical research -2018, organized by the Kerala University of Health Sciences.

The governor also shared his anxiety over the spread of diseases like dengue and said there should be more care and monitoring for ensuring cleanliness to prevent such diseases. He asked young researchers for more focussed studies on the communicable diseases.

Congratulating various initiatives of the state government like Aardram Mission, which aims to upgrade facilities of government hospitals and provide cost effective super specialty treatment to public, the governor called for cooperation from all stakeholders to make such initiatives effective. "It is laudable that Kerala could bring down infant mortality rate," he said. The latest statistics published by the Union government puts the IMR of Kerala at 10, two down from 12, which was the previous annual figure of the number of infant deaths per 1,000 births.

Health minister K K Shailaja, who presided over the function, lauded medical students for choosing Nipah threat and Kerala's fight against the disease as a topic of search. She said the fund for conducting proper research on Nipah will be arranged.