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In the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the Union Health Ministry officials and the Central Health Services doctors have started large scale vaccination of all children between six months and five years of age against measles. The children are also being given recommended dosages of vitamin-A supplement. These measures have been taken as a precautionary step against outbreak of any epidemic.
Meanwhile, active disease surveillance is on to detect any impending outbreak of epidemic prone diseases. 62 paramedics which include lab technicians and vaccinators have been sent to the Andaman and Nicobar islands. A team of 63 doctors consisting of public health specialists, medical specialists and general duty medical doctors have been deployed by the Centre to assist the local health authorities in providing relief.
A detailed breakdown of the manpower deployed in different relief camps in the Andaman and Nicobar islands is given below:
No.
Name of Island
No. of Relief Camps
No. of Persons in Camps
Additional CHS Doctors deployed
Cumulative total of Patients treated
1
Port Blair
12
4624
8
2362
2
Little Andaman
8
2500
4
1048
3
Car Nicobar
63
10,000
12
1400
4
Teresa
5
800
1
*
5
Katchal
3
2700
4
350
6
Nancowry
6
2350
4
800
7
Campbellbay
14
4000
4
426
* Details not available.
The Union Health Minister, Dr. A. Ramadoss, is monitoring daily the movement of medicines and manpower to various Tsunami affected areas. After attending to immediate first-aid requirement of injured patients, the focus of medical care has now shifted to handling the Trauma cases.
About 117 doctors consisting of 46 physicians including 6 psychiatrists have been mobilized from the Centre to the affected areas. The PGI, Chandigarh, NIMHANS, Bangalore, the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences have identified additional psychiatrists who can be sent to the affected areas at short notice for handling psycho-social issues. The details of deployment of manpower from Central Health Service alone is as given below:
State
Public Health Specialist
Clinicians/ Specialist
General Duty Medical Officer
Total
Pondicherry
3
0
0
3
Tamilnadu
1
2
15
18
Andhra Pradesh
2
-
-
2
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
4
29*
27**
60
Total
10
31
42
83
* Including 6 physicians from NIMHANS.
** Includes 9 doctors arranged through HLL.
In addition, doctors have been mobilized from central institutes
Adequate supplies of vaccines as well as disinfectants are available in all the affected areas including the islands. About 80 MT of different drugs have already been airlifted to the Andaman and Nicobar islands. About 40 additional MT of medical supplies are to be airlifted to Port Blair today. From Port Blair, the medicines are been sent to the various islands through the logistics of the defence forces. All the affected islands in the Andaman and Nicobar have medical facilities.
EK/MK
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