With the incessant heavy rains in Telangana and elsewhere, apart from flooding that is leading to loss of life, property, and financial distress, people are exposed to a battery of seasonal diseases.
As rains have been hitting various parts of the State since the second week of July, containing seasonal diseases has been the priority of the State Health department.
Health Minister Harish Rao held multiple rounds of meetings from the beginning of this month to discuss the measures that need to be taken to avoid prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria, and water-borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera.
The first meeting was held on July 5 when Mr. Harish Rao announced a three-pronged strategy to curb seasonal diseases in Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) regions in the State. The strategy includes creating awareness, testing and treating.
After rains started to pound several other districts leading to more floods, some more meetings followed where measures that needed to be taken on a war footing were decided.
Apart from fever surveys, steps taken included medical camps in flood-affected regions in Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mancherial, and Mulugu, among others. Senior officials were appointed as nodal officers to monitor the health situation in these localities.
The threat of seasonal diseases continues as the rains did not stop yet. The Health Minister and senior Health officials addressed press conferences on different occasions in the last few weeks to announce their new strategies, and precautions that people need to take. A common appeal was to ensure all premises in and around one’s house are clean.
People have been urged to make sure water is not stagnant in discarded tyres, bottles, and vessels thrown in the vicinity. Water left in air coolers, and in trays placed under flower pots, for example, serve as the breeding ground for mosquitoes.
At a presser on Monday, Mr. Harish Rao said that Health teams would conduct dry day programmes on Fridays, and Sundays, to ensure water is not left stagnant. This helps in prevention of dangerous seasonal diseases like dengue, and malaria.
SEASONAL WORRY
Typhoid cases in 2022
May - 2,797
June to July 11 - 2,752
Districts with highest number of typhoid cases (May to July 11)
Nirmal - 918
Mancherial - 658
Siddipet - 391
Dengue cases from January to July 10
Total cases - 1,184
Hyderabad - 516
Rangareddy - 97
Karimnagar - 82
Malaria cases from January to July 10
Total cases - 203
Bhadradri Kothagudem - 115
Mulugu - 43
