KOZHIKODE: With the Nipah virus death toll on the rise in the district, the health department is conducting various precautionary measures on a war footing. Masks and safety kits with full body safety wear have already been distributed to doctors, nurses and other health workers at the isolation wards and also at critical care centres that handle viral fever patients. The special task force headed by District Collector U.V. Jose and DMO Dr Asha Devi as convener is on round the clock alert on diagnosing the disease, shifting the diagnosed patients to isolation wards and also sourcing personnel including experts for treating those suspected of being infected with the Nipah virus.
For better coordination of the activities, two control rooms have been opened, one at Medical College Hospital and another at DMO office. Awareness sessions for those who were in contact with patients is also on. An emergency meeting held at the Collectorate reviewed the preparations and also streamlined the fever-fighting activities to be executed. Addressing the media after the discussions, Health minister K.K. Shailaja said that the awareness campaign was in full swing and all possible precautions were taken to check the spread of the disease to others parts of the district.
On a query about doctors using gloves and fully covered virus resistant isolation gear creating panic among patients and relatives, Ms Shailaja said that rather than battling the fears and emotions of the patients and kith and kin, the life of experts on the battlefront had to be factored in and that was also important. The health department was ready to face any kind of situation, she said. Meanwhile special steps have been taken to monitor the health condition of those kith and kin of patients who had been in direct contact with patients.
Directions had already been given to depute more doctors to Kozhikode Medical College from other medical colleges for one week. Those with viral fever of any kind can seek medical aid from taluk hospitals at Koyilandy, Thama-rassery, Perambra and City Beach Hospital. Only those confirmed with Nipah virus infection will be shifted to the isolation wards of KMCH. Health minister K.K. Shailaja also said that facilities had been readied also at private hospitals. “The state government will bear the expenses of treatment of patients at private hospitals”, she added.
Health inspectors say they were left in cold
The Health Inspectors and Junior Health Inspectors who were on a dawn to dusk mission in the Nipah-infected Panthirikkara region were neglected by the health department without being provided gloves, masks and other safety gear at the initial stage. One of the health inspectors who preferred anonymity told DC that they were still committed to their service, risking their lives even after the fever virus was confirmed as being the lethal Nipah.
“Rather than those at the top, it is us who have always been roaming in the Nipah prone zone that need safety tools,” he said. “They come and go but we stay to guide them, explain to them about the details and expose ourselves to the contaminated environs while assisting expert teams one after another”, he added. It was some politicians at the local level who first brought the attention of the health minister to the issue faced by the health workers on the ground. Later, the health department directed them to buy masks and safety gear availing funds from the local bodies or source it from the health officials in action in the area.
