Programme to prevent epidemics in flooded areas

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Health Ministry epidemiologists will visit flood-hit areas in the Eastern province to check if there are any epidemics after the floods. Health Ministry Director General Dr. Ajith Mendis said yesterday that the Ministry epidemiologists were despatched to flood-hit Ampara to check for any potential widespread disease, be it diarrhoea or fever.

Torrential rains in Ampara, Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa districts during the last few days have triggered floods and landslides causing damage to property and displacing more than 30,000 people.

Dr. Mendis said the Health Ministry's Consultant and Coordinator for North-East Health Care Development Dr. Jeganathan was in Batticaloa.

"He is monitoring the health situation there while we are monitoring the situation from Colombo," Dr. Mendis said.

"There was a need for clean water and drugs in several areas. We have despatched them," he said.

There is no scarcity of drugs. The Health Ministry is supplying medicine required by the affected, he said.

"The Ministry is handling the situation very well with the support of Government agents, provincial authorities, public health inspectors, hospitals and local authorities in the affected districts.

Dr. Mendis said they were unable to send the epidemiologists earlier to affected districts because many roads had been submerged by the floods.

Commenting on the possibility of the Health Ministry having to cope with epidemics, he said the Ministry staff has the capacity to prevent such a situation. "We did not have an epidemic situation even after the tsunami. We were able to prevent the situation," he said.

"The Ministry has not received any reports of widespread diseases so far from any of the flood-hit districts," he said.

"Even if there was any such situation, the Health Ministry can bring the situation under control," he said.

The epidemiologists visiting the affected districts will determine whether there was a threat of epidemics or not to take counter measures, Dr. Mendis said.