Thursday, 15 June 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
In view of the upcoming Dengue season the State health department has come into an active mode. On Wednesday the health secretary R Rajesh Kumar directed all the district magistrates and chief medical officers to remain alert and ensure necessary preventive measures against the disease. In the advisory, he said the districts should have a block wise micro plan to combat the disease.
Dengue is a notifiable disease under the Uttarakhand epidemic disease act -2021 under which all the government and private hospitals should compulsorily inform about the infected and suspected patients of the disease to the health department. The DMs have been asked to take all the necessary steps for prevention of the disease and release an advisory to all the departments concerned. Nodal officers should be nominated in every department and he should be made personally accountable for the necessary cooperation of the department concerned.
Isolation wards for dengue should be prepared in all government hospitals and arrangements for doctors, nursing staff and medicines are made. The advisory mandates that all the dengue test centres should have Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kits and adequate availability of platelets should remain in the blood banks.
Dengue is a viral infection spread by the mosquito Aedes Aezypti popularly known as Tiger Mosquito. The symptoms of the disease are persistent high fever, rashes, headache and pain in the joints. In the acute cases the platelets number decreases drastically which may prove fatal for the patient. In Uttarakhand the disease is more prevalent in Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts.
Ways to prevent Dengue
1. Don’t allow water to collect in and near houses.
2. Regularly decant fridges, coolers, pots or cans.
3. Spread kerosene or any other oil on the small water bodies to destroy the larvae of the Aedes mosquito.
4. Inform the district authorities for fogging to kill mosquitoes.
5. Since Aedes strikes during day time and flies near ground level so wear full sleeved clothes at work places.
6. Immediately seek medical advice when someone develops fever.
