Bhubaneswar: With the onset of monsoon, the Odisha government has stepped up measures to prevent and control the spread of rain-related diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, jaundice, malaria, and dengue.
In a review meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, senior officials discussed strategies to tackle the rising cases of waterborne diseases in the state, particularly outbreak of diarrhoea in Jajpur district.
Public Health Director Dr Nilakant Mishra stated that of the 41 stool samples collected, 8 tested positive for cholera in Jajpur. However, he assured that the situation is under control due to widespread awareness, field-level prevention, and early detection and treatment.
The Chief Secretary directed officials to complete sanitation work within ten days and make all programs for prevention, control, and management of water and vector-borne diseases more proactive and targeted. He stressed the need for conducting house-to-house surveys to detect diseases early, increasing the number of beds in government hospitals, ensuring proper treatment systems, and making necessary medicines and saline available.
This apart, the government has also decided to strengthen disease prevention programs at the village and ward levels by motivating field workers like ASHA workers, multi-purpose health workers, Anganwadi workers, and community health workers. The Water Supply Department engineers have been instructed to regularly purify all tube wells and drinking water sources in villages and urban areas.
The Chief Secretary also directed the Health and Family Welfare Department to make mobile health units more effective in remote areas and intensify the “Daman” program in malaria and dengue-prone areas. District Collectors were instructed to set up 24×7 control rooms in districts for survey, treatment, and management of monsoon-related diseases
