GUWAHATI, July 16 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today asked Chief Secretary, Jitesh Khosla to direct the health authorities to gear up the vaccination drive in view of outbreak of Japanese encephalitis (JE) in some parts of the State, claiming some lives, said an official press release here.
The Chief Minister asked the Chief Secretary also to ensure regular flow of medicine to the hospitals and health centres where there are short supplies. He asked Khosla to keep a close watch on the situation and to report to him.
Gogoi also had a meeting with Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Sanjeeva Kumar at his office chamber. The Chief Minister instructed Kumar to step up the vaccination drive to check the disease and to take all-out preventive measures. The Chief Minister, while taking stock of the quantity of medicine in hospitals and health centres, asked the Principal Secretary to ensure regular supply of medicine where there are short supplies.
Kumar apprised the Chief Minister that the situation is not alarming as 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 whatever shortage is there, would be replenished in the next couple of days.
The Principal Secretary also informed the Chief Minister of the steps being taken by the Health Department to set up ICUs and laboratory testing facilities in each district for checking the disease.
The Chief Minister urged the Principal Secretary to speed up the process for setting up of 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.
Kumar further informed the Chief Minister that Public Health Engineering Department�s initiative to convert all the shallow tube wells into deep tube wells would augment the efforts of the health department to contain water-borne diseases in the State.
