Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Jul 5: In the wake of spread of communicable diseases like dengue and malaria in the district, health minister U T Khader allayed fears and urged people not to panic and said that all necessary steps are being taken to curb the spread of diseases.

Addressing reporters at the DC's office here on Sunday July 5, Khader said, "There is no need to panic about communicable diseases. The health department and theofficials are working hard throughout the district and taking all necessary steps to ensure medical facilities to patients. Strict action will be taken if any mistake is done by any nursing staff, doctors or officials.

"Rapid response team has been formed and nodal officers have been appointed in every taluk. They will be doing review on the number of affected people and steps to be taken. Treatment will be given to those who test positive," he added.

"Communicable diseases are common in Dakshina Kannada as our district is situated on the river bank and we get heavy rainfall. Hence there is more chance of water getting stagnated which leads to breeding of mosquitoes. There is high risk of communicable diseases, so we have directed the urban development authorities, that is corporations and panchayats to keep the city clean," Khader said.

"As of now four deaths have occured in our district due to communicable diseases, and in all the four cases, the patients went to hospital only after their condition turned serious. They had neglected the fever and also, they all went to private hospitals and not to Wenlock or other government health centres. I urge people not to neglect fever and go to the nearest hospital. They can also go to primary health centres which will examine them and refer them to Wenlock hospital if required," he said.

"Protocol has been issued to doctors through IMA on how to treat patients, so that standard treatment is followed. In case a patient has less than 10,000 platelets, he/she will be given platelets free of cost in government hospitals," he added.

"Private hospitals should treat patients only if they are capable of doing so, if not, they should refer the patients to other hospitals, as all the four deaths so far have occured in private hospitals. In Wenlock hospital, there is malaria ward with 24 beds," Khader said.

"In an effort to curb the spread of the diseases, the health department has initiated fogging in various places. In Mangaluru there are two teams and seven fogging machines, while Puttur, Beltangady and Bantwal each have two teams and four machines.

Referring to the recent protest by BJP MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary demanding permanent appointment of 3,500 nurses, Khader said, "It is not feasible to take all 3,500 nurses under goverment scale. They were appointed by National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for a task. There are no 3,500 vacancies and if they are appointed there will be legal issues. There are some nurses who are working from 15 years and we want to make them permanent at the state level. We are trying to make 889 nurses permanent.

"Kota Srinivas Poojary has said that he had given proposal in this regard when BJP was in power, but I want to ask why did he give it only in the last cabinet meeting of the previous BJP government? This is nothing but a political gimmick to gain votes. Legally it is not possible to make so many nurses permanent, and the government cannot do it for any particular district. It has to be for the entire state. There are also budgeting issues. We have to think about the burden on the government treasury - there is expenditure and other issues to be considered. But we will make the nurses permanent in course of time, for example, if there are a thousand vacancies, 500 will be appointed through exam and interviews, while the remaining 500 will be chosen from these 3,500 nurses. We will make list of the nurses so they will be assured that they would be appointed in future, so there is no confusion," he explained.

On the issue pertaining to salaries to 108 ambulance service staff, he said, "The 108 ambulance service is managed by GVK-EMRI, and the government will not interfering in its functioning. There may be complaints from about 10 percent of the drivers, but we will not interfere. It is up to GVK to take necessary action."

DC A B Ibrahim Mayor Jacintha Alfred, ZP CEO Sreevidya, MCC joint commissioner Gokuldas Nayak, ADC Sadashiv Prabhu and others were present.Prabhu and others