Health Minister takes stock of anti dengue activities and instructs officials to be more proactive

Chandigarh: On the directives of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Health and family Welfare Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra on Wednesday took stock of the prevailing situation pertaining to dengue and other vector born diseases through video conferencing.

It is apt to mention here that though Jauramajra is campaigning in Gujarat for Aam Aadmi Party but in order to safeguard the health of the people, he is keeping an eye on various health activities through the digital medium and is in regular touch with the state health officials.

The Health Minister disclosed that so far Punjab has recorded 9559 cases of dengue and out of which 8323 patients have already been cured. Punjab has only 1206 active patients of dengue out of which 102 patients are admitted in government hospitals, 91 are admitted in private hospitals and 1012 are recovering at their homes. The patients who are at their homes are being monitored on a daily basis by Rapid Response Teams of the department. He further informed that this year, 16 persons died due to dengue whereas there were 55 dengue deaths last year. Therefore the situation at present is very much under control but he instructed the officials to not to let their guard down and instructed them to boost anti dengue activities in the state.

Mr. Jauramajra said that dengue and malaria are notified diseases under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and accordingly all the private hospitals in the state of Punjab are required to report dengue and malaria cases to the Department, so that timely action can be taken by the department in any dengue case. He asserted the health officials to coordinate with the local government and Rural Development Department to step up fogging and stressed on creating awareness regarding prevention of dengue.

The minister also urged people to follow the health department’s guidelines to contain the spread of dengue and assured that he will continue the ground monitoring exercise.