Mangaluru: The state plans to ban e-cigarettes soon. Health Minister, U T Khader told reporters on Monday that the ban could be imposed within a week.
He also revealed the government planned to put a stop to tests that had proved inaccurate in diagnosing communicable diseases. And the process of destroying expired medicines in the state would be completed in six months, he added.
Denying reports of four deaths due to dengue in the district, the minister claimed the number of malaria and dengue cases had actually fallen in comparison to last year.
“One of the reasons for the fall could be the delay in rains. Last year the rains had arrrived early. But we do need to be careful and take all precautionary measures to control the spread of communicable disease,” he stressed.
To begin with Aasha and health workers would visit every house in the state to create awareness about these diseases and ensure that necessary steps were taken to control them, he explained.
“The teams will have to mention the details including phone numbers of the families they visit. Although the programme was started last year, we have decided to strictly enforce it from this year,” he added.
