The Yogi government has geared up for the third campaign to control communicable diseases. The Health department is taking effective steps to prevent communicable diseases in Varanasi by coordinating with 10 departments. Anti-larva spraying and fogging campaigns are being conducted in rural and urban areas. Beds have been reserved in hospitals along with a massive testing campaign. Public awareness drives are also being run for prevention and treatment of communicable diseases. The first and second campaigns for mass communicable diseases were conducted in April and July last and now the third phase is going to start from October. The Health department has been made the nodal department for coordination with other 10 departments for prevention and control of meningitis and other vector-borne and water-borne diseases. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Sandeep Chaudhary said there are 6,600 cleaning workers in the Municipal Corporation area apart from 175 workers for anti-larva spray, 41 spraying and 77 fogging machines. There are 371 personnel for drainage cleaning and 175 larvicide pumps. In gram panchayats too, 1,247 sanitation workers, 712 larvicide pumps and fogging machines are being used in 694 gram panchayats for prevention of communicable diseases. The CMO said for patients of communicable diseases, five beds at each Community Health Centre (CHC), two beds at Primary Health Centre (PHC), 100 beds at Pt Deendayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital, 50 beds at Sir Sundar Hospital (SSH) inBanaras Hindu University (BHU) and 50 beds at Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Hospital Ramnagar have been reserved.
District Malaria Officer (DMO) Sharat Chandra Pandey said that ASHA and Anganwadi workers, skilled in rapid diagnostic tests, are monitoring and testing fever from door to door, and rapid response teams (RRTs) are deployed at all CHCs and PHCs.
Besides Fever desk has been created. Thirty-nine larva detection squads are also active on behalf of DUDA, which are going door to door and checking their coolers, water tanks and places where water is collected, on the information of which immediate action is being taken. Special attention is being paid to fogging on 70 hot spots in urban areas and 62 hot spots in rural areas.
A special campaign is being run by the Municipal Corporation for cleanliness, garbage disposal and preventing water logging. Panchayati Raj Rural Development department has to do all the work for prevention of communicable diseases, including cleanliness and fogging along with public relations and public awareness. Animal Husbandry department is responsible for many works like cleanliness of animal enclosures, garbage disposal, arranging vector control and serosurveillance at pig rearing sites, spraying pesticides etc.
For the prevention of communicable diseases, apart from the Health department, all the departments like Urban Development, Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Animal Husbandry department, Education department, Disabled Empowerment, Agriculture and Irrigation will have to do their department related work. Along with ASHA and Anganwadi workers, the role of ANMs will also be important. The Education department has also been given important responsibility in which the aim is to create awareness among the parents, create posters, debate competitions and spread publicity related to prevention of meningitis and other vector borne and water borne diseases. The Agriculture and Irrigation department has been given the responsibility of giving its advice on alternative measures to stop the breeding of mosquitoes in frozen water and the Irrigation department, growing anti-mosquito plants, suggesting effective and safe measures for rodent control in the fields, etc.
BID TO STRENGTHEN HEALTH FACILITIES: To strengthen the health facilities of the district, the first delivery through operation took place at the Urban Community Health Centre in Sarnath. After cesarean delivery of a high-risk pregnant woman, both mother and child are healthy. CMO Dr Sandeep Chaudhary said special efforts are being made to strengthen health facilities in the district and in this sequence the work of OPD services and admission and treatment of patients was started at the health centre in Sarnath.
The Sarnath health centre will be very useful for the citizens of the area. Now they will not have to go far for maternal and child health check-up and delivery, he said and informed that with normal delivery the facility of cesarean delivery has also been made available here.
The operation was conducted under the supervision of anesthesia specialist Dr Nikunj Kumar Verma, gynaecologist Dr Archana Verma and Dr Abhimanyu Singh and staff nurses Amrita Dwivedi and Aman Rai. Medical Superintendent of CHC Sarnath Dr Abhimanyu Singh informed that a pregnant woman from the area was admitted here due to labour pain. She was in a high-risk pregnancy.
Therefore, the operation was conducted late on Sunday night and the delivery was done safely. The mother and child are healthy after the operation, he added.