In the wake of Kerala floods, diarrhea, dengue on the rise in the state: Health ministry

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday, 30 August said cases of leptospirosis , acute diarrhea and dengue are rising in flood-hit Kerala and that the Centre is closely monitoring the situation. Union Health Minister J P Nadda along with other ministry officials reviewed flood relief measures and said the Centre is coordinating with the state. According to the ministry, the Centre will be sending 30 specialist doctors, 20 general duty medical officers and 40 Malayalam-speaking nurses who will be arriving in Kerala on Friday, 31 August. [caption id=“attachment_5086301” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] An aerial image of people in Kerala waiting for aid next to makeshift rafts at a badly-flooded area. Reuters[/caption] “Also, 12 public health teams, each comprising one public health specialist, a microbiologist and one entomologist are being deployed to assist the state health department in various public health measures,” it said. The Centre has so far supplied 73 MT of essential emergency drugs . “As per the additional request received from Kerala, 58 items of essential drugs/consumables weighing about 120 MT, and 40 ultra low volume (ULV) fogging machines are also being sent to the state,” the Ministry said.