Tuesday, Jul 15, 2003
Tuesday, Jul 15, 2003 |
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Andhra Pradesh
By Our Special Correspondent
The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, visited seven villages in Nalgonda district while the Health Minister, Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, began a five-day tour of 11 districts to create awareness among people about the need to keep their surroundings hygienic. Mr. Naidu issued a stern warning to sarpanches and village secretaries that he would hold them responsible for viral fever deaths in their local community. He announced on-the-spot suspension of Mukkala Vasudeva Reddy, sarpanch of Kukkadam in Nutankal Mandal, ordered the upa-sarpanch to take over. The suspension of the Congress village chief took place in a dramatic fashion after Mr. Naidu took an instant opinion poll on Mr. Reddy's ready availability and got a resounding "no" in reply. Mr. Naidu utilised his tour of seven villages to highlight the package of "one-crore boons" that the Government had prepared. Dr. Siva Prasada Rao told reporters before leaving for Medak and Mahabubnagar districts that till Sunday evening viral encephalitis had claimed the lives of 106 children, including two children who passed away in the Niloufer Hospital in Hyderabad and one each in Warangal and Nizamabad. Two more children died in Karimnagar on Monday taking the toll there to 43, while there were unconfirmed reports of a viral fever death in the Dabeerpura area of the Old City. The Minister said the exact nature of viral fevers was yet to be ascertained although teams from the NICD, New Delhi, NIV, Pune, and NIMHANS, Bangalore, had tested numerous blood samples collected from the affected areas. Epidemiologists were unable to say authoritatively whether Japanese or measles encephalitis or entero virus caused the fevers. It was basically viral encephalitis which was proving fatal to children within hours of their admission. Only three out of the 63 samples collected by the NICD had proved positive for JE. Whatever be the virus, the medicine administered to patients was the same.
Dr. Rao appealed to parents to rush children affected by fever immediately to
But, they should avoid taking children to far-away hospitals since many deaths had occurred during shifting.
He said that even primary health centres possessed the necessary medicines and infrastructure to treat viral fevers.
Answering a question, the Minister admitted laxity by officials in anticipating the outbreak of diseases during the monsoon even though JE occurs between August and December. "We should have been ready to meet the situation,'' he said.
He said M/s. Shantha Bio-tech had expressed readiness to supply JE vaccine but the experts feared that administering the vaccine at this stage might aggravate the problem.
A decision would be taken after these apprehensions were cleared.
He described as "unfortunate" the controversy generated by the Government's decision to prepare a calendar of diseases aimed at using past experience to prepare for the future.
The remarks of the APCC spokesperson, K. Rosaiah, ridiculing the move were uncalled for since the Government was not running away from its responsibility. "All political parties should join hands with the Government to combat the disease,'' he added.
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