Chennai: For the first time in the State, a massive epidemiological exercise to map fever cases in six districts will be taken up by the Health Department. The State government will conduct door-to-door survey on fever throughout the State, specifically in six districts where more number of cases have been reported.
A huge posse of health workers and paramedical staff will be involved in mapping cases in Kanyakumari, Madurai, Theni, Villupuram, Cuddalore and Coimbatore districts. The exercise will go on until the entire district is covered, Director of Public Health S. Elango said.
While fever is perceived as common and a symptom of wide-ranging health conditions, Health Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam told the heads of the Health Departments that a survey would provide a good perspective on the actual number of cases in the State.
“Reporting from hospitals is not reliable in terms of providing the entire picture. We only get to see the tip of the iceberg in hospitals. This way the whole district would be covered,” Dr. Elango told The Hindu.
Over 20,000 staff will be on the field to conduct the survey among residents. For every fever case, blood samples will be drawn and tested.
After ruling out diseases endemic to the particular area, the paramedical staff will use certain established protocols (permutations of fever and other symptoms) to define the diagnostic process for each blood sample. These staff will also carry basic drug kits that contain certain drugs for simple fever and these will be distributed.
Some of the combinations they will look for include fever and shivering, fever and seizures, fever and sore throat and fever and diarrhoea. In case the patients require further treatment, they will be referred to the nearby primary health centre, taluk or district headquarters hospital. All these units and medical college hospitals have been instructed to start special fever clinics.
Besides this, the DPH has decided to screen all students of international schools in The Nilgiris and Coimbatore for signs of A(H1N1), since they are found to be a source of spreading the infection. Representatives of multi-national information technology companies have been instructed to inform health officials about fever incidence, especially among employees who have been abroad recently.
First Published: Sunday, November 29, 2009, 10:22