CHENNAI: While Chennai rains have come as a breather to the water-starved city people, the plethora of diseases that the monsoon season has brought along with it has left citizens concerned. A week after two suspected cases of diphtheria were reported in Chennai (from Pammal and Seven Wells regions), the news of test results for both cases having returned negative has come as a huge relief. The children have now been discharged.
However, with an upsurge in the number of monsoon-related illness cases, the government is taking necessary precautions to prevent an outbreak of diseases. In an earlier interview to Deccan Chronicle, Dr K Kolandaisamy, Director of Public Health, had said that mass immunization programmes were being conducted in schools and anganwadis across Chennai. The government has ramped up efforts, with immunization programmes now extended to cover the private schools in the city additionally.
Speaking about the potential outbreak of other life-threatening diseases such as Japanese encephalitis and dengue, Dr K. Kolandaisamy said, “Only a few sporadic cases of dengue have been reported until now. We are not anticipating an epidemic-like situation. However, we have issued an advisory to the public to remove unused containers and seal places where water can stagnate, as these act as a breeding ground for mosquitoes”.
“As for Japanese encephalitis(JE), the prevalence of this disease is very low in Tamil Nadu. We have been administrating vaccines for JE in 13 districts till now. This year three more districts-Kanchipuram, Thiruvannamalai and Chennai have been included to this list,” he said.
While doctors have lauded the preventive measures adopted by the government, they have also expressed serious concerns regarding ‘anti-vaccination’ campaigns, which they allege are slowly gaining momentum in the state. “Lately, propagating ‘pseudoscience’ and ‘anti-science’ has become a fashion of some sort. Those preachers of ‘nature-based-living’ should understand that human beings cannot live without altering the environment they live in according to their needs. As humans, we use tools of labour to utilise the resources of nature as well as to protect ourselves from it. This is what differentiates us from animals. These people should also note that even animals are being vaccinated these days. Such false propaganda is vicious and will result in severe implications”, warns Dr. Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctor’s Association for Social Equality.
The doctors also say that several parents have expressed restraint to these immunization programmes.
