Preventive Steps Against Monkeypox In Kerala: Help Desks At Airports, Training For Doctors

New Delhi: All four international airports in Kerala are geared up to deal with monkeypox, which surfaced in the state recently. Extensive training for doctors and officials of local bodies as well as help desks are some of the latest steps taken by the state government.

State Health Minister Veena George said help desks have been started at Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin, Kozhikode and Kannur International airports, according to a PTI report.

Fact file

• The help desks, manned by trained personnel, would help detect symptoms of monkeypox in those coming from abroad, provide them with expert care and would also be used for the resolution of queries.
• Those returning from countries where monkeypox was reported in the last 21 days and are showing symptoms like fever, rash, or blisters, headache, body aches, muscle pain, sore throat, and difficulty in swallowing food have to contact the help desks at the airports.
• Isolation systems have been set up in the districts and those showing symptoms have to stay at home in a ventilated room for 21 days. During this period, they should not come in close contact with pregnant women, children, or immuno-compromised people in the house.
• Those who notice symptoms can call Disha 104, 1056, 0471 2552056 immediately.
• After organising a training programme for 1,200 government and private sector doctors, the Health Department is organising an extensive training programme for monkeypox prevention.
• Training will be provided to doctors in private hospitals, private practitioners and doctors in the field of AYUSH in collaboration with the Indian Medical Association, it said.
• Training is also being organised for the employees of the local institutions with the cooperation of the Health Department.
• The training programme for health volunteers like Asha workers will be held on July 18 (today) and the public can also watch it live through the link — https://youtu.be/FC1gsr9y1BI. Any doubts that people have can also be cleared during the programme.
• The Health Department is also observing those with chicken pox or similar symptoms to ensure that they do not have monkeypox.
• Random samples would be tested to ascertain whether anyone else was infected.
• Ambulances have been arranged to shift those with symptoms to hospitals from the airports.

Notably, a man who returned from the UAE on July 12 was the first case of monkeypox in the state. All his contacts were identified and 11 of his co-passengers, his family members, an auto-driver, a taxi driver and a dermatologist of a private hospital, where the infected person sought treatment first, are under observation.

A special alert has been issued to five districts as people from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kottayam were co-passengers of the infected person on the Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram Indigo flight that landed here on July 12.