A meeting of the State Rapid Response Team of the Health department, which met to discuss the emergency health measures that need to be adopted in the aftermath of the landslides in Wayanad district, has decided to deploy health workers in the relief/rescue camps.
Every relief/rescue camp will be put under the charge of one health worker. Special measures are being taken to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases and special medical teams will be engaged wherever it is necessary.
The meeting, chaired by the Health Minister Veena George, discussed the general situation in districts and the manner of working of relief camps in districts
The post-mortem examination of 55 bodies recovered from the disaster site have been completed in Meppadi and Nilambur. A special team of forensic experts from Kozhikode as well as another team from Wayanad have been engaged to complete the post-mortem process without delay.
DNA tests to be held
The Health department is also making arrangements for conducting DNA tests to identify the bodies which could not be identified by sight. Additional mortuary facilities as well as mobile mortuaries have been arranged , it was pointed out at the meeting.
The meeting directed all health workers to be on the alert so that no infectious diseases break out in the post-flood period. Those entering the floodwaters for relief work should consume Doxycycline as prophylaxis, strictly following the advice of health workers. In relief camps, only boiled and cooled water should be used for drinking to prevent waterborne diseases.
The availability of additional stocks of drugs and other safety equipment will be ensured in districts where flood warnings have been issued. More medicine stocks have been despatched to Wayanad. The Women and Children department is also engaged in the relief measures.
Earlier in the morning, Ms. George had convened a high-level meeting to discuss the immediate measures that were required of the Health department to tackle the medical emergency at Wayanad.
The State Mission Director of the National Health Mission is in charge of the coordination of all activities of the Health department in Wayanad
A temporary hospital has started functioning in a polytechnic and more are being readied. In Chooralmala, clinics have been set up in a madrasa and mosque.
Facilities augmented
The facilities in the Wayanad district hospital have been augmented and more health workers have been deployed in the district. Medical teams from Kozhikode, Kannur, and Thrissur Medical Colleges have been engaged in Wayanad. Additional ambulances, rapid action medical units of the 108 emergency ambulance service, and doctors from the surgery, orthopaedics, cardiology, psychiatry, and forensic medicine departments and more nurses have been deployed in the district.
Medical teams from private hospitals as well as a group of doctors who have prior experience of working in disaster sites are also reaching Wayanad soon
The Health department is also keeping an eye on Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. Health workers on leave had been asked to rejoin duty to assist in the emergency operations
Control rooms are functioning in the office of the Health Minister, Directorate of Health Services, and in the district medical office. Tele-MANAS tele-counselling service will provide round-the-clock service (toll free no. 14416) to help the victims recover from trauma
The State Control room at the Directorate of Health Services will function round-the-clock and can be reached on the numbers 0471 2303476, 0471 2300208.
