The outbreak of jaundice in the State which has claimed seven lives so far, has become a major cause of concern for the administration and the Divisional Commissioner KDP Rao directed all the district collectors in the division to initiate remedial measures to contain its spread on a war footing.
As part of the initiative, the Commissioner also cancelled the leaves of all Government employees engaged in fighting the jaundice outbreak and other seasonal diseases.
Rao also instructed the collectors to immediately improve the hygiene in their respective districts with special focus on drinking water supply and distribution of food in the open. Special health check up camps will also be held in areas where outbreak of seasonal diseases have been reported.
He also directed them (collectors) to set up joint task force with officials of medical teams, local civic bodies and Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) to contain the menace of the jaundice from their respective district.
Besides the task force, he directed to deploy special combat teams in all such areas from where outbreak of jaundice was reported to nip it in the bud.
Special awareness drives have also been carried out in the division to create awareness among the people about the cause of seasonal diseases and the steps to be taken to save them from getting infected to the disease.
Similarly, control rooms would also be opened at every district headquarters and block headquarters for round-the-clock monitoring.
The Commissioner also said that the collectors would be able to use the services of officials and other field staff of any department to fight the outbreak of seasonal diseases in case of requirement, instead of passing the burden solely on the Health Department.