Govt calls meet on Chikungunya

Concerned over Chikungunya spreading across the country after Kerala, the Centre has called a meeting of health ministers of eight affected states on Thursday.

Concerned over Chikungunya spreading across the country after Kerala, the Centre has called a meeting of health ministers of eight affected states on Thursday.

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Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss with chair a meeting with health ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and the Capital to take stock of the situation and discuss measures to be taken to contain spread of the disease.

"Health ministers of the affected states will be attending the meeting. It is a review meeting," Director General of Health Services RK Srivastava told PTI on Monday.

So far 400 people have been reported affected with the viral disease in the country.

Srivastava, who had visited Kerala last week to assess the situation following reports of deaths due to Chikungunya, said there has been no deaths due to the mosquito-borne disease in the country.

"We conducted a verbal autopsy in the state and have not found any deaths due to Chikungunya. All the deaths have been due to some other related diseases," he said.

He said the viral disease was reported in the country for the first time after 32 years last year and the health ministry had immediately provided training to the state health officers to contain the problem.

"We had provided awareness material to all the states. The minister will take stock of the situation and assess what more could be done," he said.

Srivastava said if the states sought more assistance from the Centre, the required help would be provided. "We are here to complement and supplement their efforts," he said.