Japanese Encephalitis: Gogoi directs CS to monitor situation

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today directed state Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla to ensure that the health department gears up the vaccination drive following the outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis which has claimed 15 lives so far this year.
Gogoi also directed the Chief Secretary to ensure regular flow of medicine to hospitals and health centres and monitor the situation closely, a government spokesman said.
The Chief Minister also directed Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Sanjeeva Kumar to step up the vaccination drive and take all possible preventive measures to check Japanese Encephalitis.
Kumar apprised the Chief Minister that the situation was not alarming and the incidence of Japanese Encephalitis is less than last year.

The Principal Secretary told the Chief Minister that truckloads of medicine are being sent to different parts of the state daily and wherever there is shortage, it would be replenished in the next few days.
The Chief Minister directed the Principal Secretary to speed up the process of setting up the Assam State Health Corporation to make the procurement of medicine hassle-free. Kumar informed the Chief Minister that the process is on and the proposal would be placed in the Cabinet for necessary approval.
He also informed the Chief Minister that Public Health Engineering Department's initiative to convert all shallow tube wells into deep tube wells would help the efforts of the health department to contain water-borne diseases.