Hyderabad: Health minister Etela Rajender blames incessant rains during a short spell for the virulent spread of viruses, saying that the government is “taking all measures to control the situation in the city”.
On the rapid spread of viral fevers across all areas and of the city and all sections of population, the beleaguered minister, said, “we had a preparatory meeting in June with all departments but the rainfall has been too high in too short a time. This has led to the virulent spread of the disease. Awareness programs are now being conducted. People are being told not to panic.”
Health camps have been started different areas of the city, the minister said.
In August, the Fever Hospital has seen 51,000 cases of viral fever. For this reason, 25 additional counters have been set up in the hospital. In other government hospitals, there are evening clinics, which would be functioning for treating patients on an out-patient basis, he informed.
On the spread of dengue on an epidemic scale, Mr Rajender said, “it was due to stagnation of water at a high number of places across the city, which is leading to breeding of mosquitoes and spread of the disease. Within city limits, GHMC has been told to carry out mosquito control measures in terms of fogging and spraying to control the mosquito population. Awareness programs have also been initiated because people need not panic. There is proper treatment available for the disease and we are equipp-ed to handle the problem.”
When asked about the shortage of medicines in government hospitals and public health centres, he said, “I have instructed all general hospitals to utilize their budgets. There will be medicines supplied to all centres, including PHCs soon.”
On the issue of private hospitals carrying out unnecessary diagnosis, the health minister said “the district medical and health officer of Hydera-bad has been instructed to speak to private hospitals and ask them to not indulge in unnecessary diagnosis. We are going to take complaints from patients very seriously.”
On the more serious issue of shortfall of doctors in government hospitals, he said, “We have put in post-graduate doctors into service, apart from our existing medical teams, to handle the situation. We have asked homeopathy doctors to help people with preventive measures in these times, so that the situation can be controlled.”
Appealing to the people not to panic, he said, “people should not panic as every fever is not dengue. Every dengue fever is not serious. Apart from medicines, oral fluids and rest will help them recover faster.”
