Ministers panel elicits views on curbing dengue

Hyderabad: In the first meeting of Cabinet Sub-Committee on Health held on Thursday, much of the discussions centred around the dengue disease.

Health Minister Eatala Rajender-led panel took views of all HoDs on prevention and treatment of dengue and what best methods could be implemented to tackle it. While K T Rama Rao, who was on New Delhi visit could not attend, other ministers Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Talasani Srinivas Yadav took part.

It may be mentioned here that government drew flak from the High Court over the high number of dengue positive cases this season and actions taken, which it felt were not satisfactory.

In this backdrop, the ministers panel allocated maximum time in the five-hour long meeting on dengue subject only.

A senior official from the GHMC also attended the meeting and briefed the panel about the anti-larval, fogging and other measures to control the mosquito menace in twin-cities that was one of the most impacted areas in the State.

The meeting also emphasized on coordination between Health, Municipal Administration and Panchayat Raj departments henceforth for proper sanitation and to control mosquito menace thereby keeping a check on all viral fevers and vector-borne diseases.

A decision was also taken to bring 1,500 beds into operational and create infrastructure facilities accordingly.

Eatala-led panel has been constituted to assess the preparedness of the Health department to tackle seasonal diseases and fevers across the State, besides, supervising preventive measures and the department's action plan on the ground.

The ministers' panel has been formed in view of the government's recent experience concerning dengue and seasonal fevers.