Manipur government sounds health alert over mosquito-borne diseases

Imphal, July 30: Manipur Health and Family Welfare Minister L Jayantakumar Singh on Sunday sounded a high health alert over mosquito-borne diseases in Manipur, particularly in border areas, after reports of over  16 dead in neighbouring Myanmar bordering Tengnoupal and Churachandpur districts.
“The government has sounded alerts and started taking preventive measures to check outbreak of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes,” Minister Jayantakumar said during a function at Nirmala Hotel here.
He said surveillance teams have been sent to Tengnoupal’s border town Moreh and Churachanpur’s Behiang, a border village on the boundary of India and Khenman inside Myanmar.
In addition to this, he said, 20 medical teams have been sent to border town Moreh and Churachandpur.
Churachandpur has been hit hardest by dengue and JE epidemic with Henglep subdivision reporting more villagers suffering from illnesses whose symptoms similar to that of dengue and JE.
With rain continues to lash the hill areas, ferrying of patients by taking rough roads from the remote villages of Henglep subdivision to the district headquarters for treatment has become an increasingly difficult task.   
As many as 80 ailing villagers from Henglep were brought to the district headquarters yesterday to admit to Churachandpur District Hospital after they were stranded for days due to bad road condition coupled with continued rainfall.
Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh yesterday during an emergency meeting here reviewed the outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis and dengue in the state where 78 cases of JE and 56 cases of dengue have been detected so far.
He said the situation in the state was alarming and stressed on the need of immediate intervention. The Manipur Chief Minister also announced to release Rs 10 crore to tackle the situation.