Vizag on diarrhoea alert; free ORS for every home

“There are no outbreaks in Visakhapatnam both in rural and urban areas. Only two cases of diarrhoea were reported and both were treated,’’ said district medical and health officer Dr P. Jagadiswara Rao. He said it was decided to distribute two packets of ORS and Zinc tablets and syrups to every home having children in Visakhapatnam. The programme will be launched from Monday onwards.

Meanwhile, GVMC commissioner CM Saikanth Verma held a meeting with his officials on Saturday to implement the national awareness programme under the central theme ``Stop Diarrhea’’ in the corporation limits. He said there were specific orders from the State government to take all precautionary measures to prevent water born and seasonal diseases. Additional commissioner KS Viswanathan and other senior officials were present in the meeting.

The commissioner said in addition to waterborne diseases, measures should also be taken to prevent vector borne diseases. He asked the engineering staff to take up de-siltation of all the major drains measuring over a kilometer in length in the city as the rain season had commenced in full scale. Similarly he asked them to clear the silt from small drains which measure to 2.8 kilometres in length.

Similarly, he asked the staff to clear water logging in BRTS Roads, highways and beach roads. He also directed the water works department officials to plug the leaks to the water pipes which are passing through drains and culverts.

He had suggested the health officials take up fogging, spraying of bleaching powder and take up anti-larvae operations in all parts of the city.

Visakhapatnam City has reported 283 malaria cases and 69 dengue as on date, chief medical officer of GVMC Dr Naresh Kumar said.