Punjab: 2.47 lakh people treated in special health campaign post floods

Chandigarh, Sep 22 (PTI) Health Minister Balbir Singh on Monday said the Punjab government's ongoing 'special health campaign' in flood-affected areas has shown remarkable results with medical teams established health camps across all 2,303 targeted villages, conducting as many as 2,47,958 OPD consultations.

"This massive effort enabled prompt treatment of 31,717 fever cases, 7,832 diarrhoea cases, 36,119 skin infections and 16,884 eye infections, preventing these conditions from escalating into larger outbreaks," Singh said.

The Health minister, acting on the direction from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, had a week ago ordered a massive mobilization of the state's entire medical fraternity, directing the deployment of all available resources, including government doctors, private volunteers, Ayurveda medical officers, and MBBS interns, to spearhead a 'Special Health Campaign' in 2,303 flood-affected villages.

Releasing the cumulative data from September 14 till date, Singh stated that the strategic focus on preemptive action has yielded significant results, with only five malaria cases detected despite extensive door-to-door screening of over 7 lakh households by over 20,000 Accredited Social Health Activists workers. The health teams have also distributed 2.27 lakh essential health kits, he said.

"These numbers represent a successful containment of health disaster. Where major outbreaks were anticipated, our preemptive strategy has created a strong health shield around our communities," Singh said.

"The minimal number of malaria cases and effective management of other ailments demonstrate that our three-pronged approach is working effectively on ground," he further stated.

Similarly, intensive vector-control drives have covered 6.22 lakh households for mosquito breeding, finding and destroying breeding sites in 11,582 houses. As a critical preventive measure, preemptive larvicide was sprayed at 1.43 lakh houses, and extensive fumigation was carried out in all the flood-affected villages to break the disease transmission cycle, the minister said.

Meanwhile, Punjab Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian said the flood situation in the state continues to stabilise as more affected families are returning to their homes.

He said that while 219 relief camps were opened across Punjab, currently only 13 camps remain active, that too only in Gurdaspur, sheltering just 10 inmates. Notably, 25 active camps with 163 inmates were reported a day earlier.

The Revenue minister said that districts like Fazilka and Jalandhar, which had 50 and 103 inmates respectively in the relief camps on Sunday, have reported nil camps and inmates on Monday.

Mundian said that floods have impacted entire state, affecting a population of over 3.89 lakh.

A total 57 human lives have been lost and four persons remain missing since August 1.

He said that crop damage across the State has been assessed at 1,99,926.2 hectares.

Punjab recently faced one of its worst flood disasters in decades. The worst-affected districts in the floods were Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Fazilka and Tarn Taran. PTI SUN NB NB