A group of public health experts has met here today the Chairmanship of Director General of Health Services Dr. S.P.Agarwal to review the public health technical guidelines for prevention of any disease outbreak in cyclone hit Orissa.

    Department of Family Welfare, Government of India is procuring 1.5 to 2 million auto destruct syringes for measles vaccination in Orissa, for which sufficient quantity of measles vaccines is readily available with the Department.

    Medical Advice has been given to the State Health authorities to go in for measles vaccination among children under five years of age in all the relief camps/ cyclone shelters and other areas where population is concentrated. The vaccination should be carried out especially in those areas where low routine immunisation coverage and under nurishment and no incidence of measles have been reported.

    Union Government has reinforced its medical supplies to the State of Orissa with today’s shipment of bleaching powder from various centres such as Durgapur in West Bengal, Nagda in Madhya Pradesh and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, ORS packets from Delhi and anti-snake venom vitals from Kasuli in Himachal Pradesh.
 
 
 

    Department of Family Welfare of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has so far despatched 11 lakh ORS packets to Orissa to contain the water borne diseases. Another 1 lakh packets will be rushed to the State of which 12,000 ORS packets are to be airlifted from Delhi to Bhubneshwar on 7.11.99.

    On the request of Orissa Government 30,00 scalp vein sets intended for interavenous fluid to the infants, sufferings from diahorea will also be airlifted to Bhubaneshwar on 7.11.99.

    In addition to 250MT of bleaching powder which has already been set to Bhubneshwar by the Centre, another 100MT of the same are being sent to Berhampur and Bhubneshwar from Salem in Tamil Nadu today. From Calcutta 61.25 MT of bleaching powder has been sent by rail to Bhubneshwar on 6.11.99.

    In order to contain the incidence of malaria, 230MT of DDT were sent by train from Chennai to Bhubneshwar on 5.11.99. Hindustan Inseticides Limited, Kochi, has been requisitioned to keep 500 MT of DDT ready for despatch to Orissa.

    In order to treat the patients of Malaria, 10,000 quinine Ampules were despatched on 5.11.99 by train to Orissa from New Delhi. Another 20,000 quinine ampules are to be sent from Guwahati to Bhubneshwar immediately.

    About 2.45 crores tablet chloroquin, 23 lakh tablet Primaquin (7.5mg) and 1.25 lakh tablet Primaquin (2.5mg) have been despatched to Orissa till 5.11.99.

    7000 quinine tablets had also been sent on 5.11.99.

    A team of 6 doctors knowing Oriya language is leaving Delhi for Bhubneshwar tomorrow to assist the health authorities in medical relief activities.
 
 
 

    A team of four Senior Specialists in Micro Biology, Public Health and Entomology headed by Dr. Shivlal, Director National Anti-Malaria Programme will air-dash Bhubaneswar tomorrow to strengthen the Regional Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, Bhubaneswar and to advise the State Health Authorities regarding public health measures required to be taken to prevent/contain any outbreak of diseases.

    Anti-snake Venom Serum 30000 ampules sent from Delhi on 5^th November had reached Bhubaneswar today. 300 Metric tonnes of medicines of which 1,27,700 packets of ORS (Oral Rehydration Syrup) sent by Relief Train from Delhi on 3^rd November are being unloaded at Bhubaneswar today. 3,00,000 packets of ORS sent from Hyderabad on 2^nd and 3^rd November had also reached Bhubaneswar today. 12000 ORS Packets air-lifted from Delhi today also reached there.
 
 

SIMILAR CONCESSIONS TO ACCREDITED MEDIA PERSONS
MINISTER DONATES TWO MONTHS SALARY TO CRF

    The Minister of Communications, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan has announced several concessions for the affected districts in Orissa in rental and call charges for the period from 1^st November to 31^st December, 1999. In the rural areas, the bills will be waived off upto Rs.1000/-. No rentals will be charged for these two months in urban areas. No registration fee for booking of telephones will be charged in the rural areas. Calls made from village telephones will be 50% cheaper. No rentals will be charged for these two months in urban areas. These concessions are also being given to accredited media persons.

    The Minister has also announced welfare measures to the employees of Posts and Telecom Departments in Orissa. Rs.3000/- will be given to the employees as assistance from the Welfare Fund as a one-time measure. One month salary advance will also be given and efforts will be made through Finance Ministry to increase this advance to three months.

    Shri Paswan donated two months of his salary to the Cyclone Relief Fund.

    The Minister undertook a special visit to Orissa yesterday along with the Secretaries of Department of Telecom Services (DTS) and Department of Posts (DOP) and other senior officers and reviewed the restoration of telecom services which were affected due to Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (VSCS) in Orissa. The Chief Minister of Orissa, Shri Giridhar Gomang, the Revenue Minister and the Chief Secretary of the State Government were also present.

    While taking note of the improvement in services due to non-stop working of telecom officials, Shri Paswan directed that the rural telephone exchanges and rural telecom services which have been very badly affected owing to the inaccessibility of exchanges should be restored. He said additional repair parties should be rushed immediately from nearby telecom circles like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal to affected areas of Orissa.

    Other decisions which were taken in the review meeting include:-

1. In order to expedite restoration of faults, Pagers will be provided to linestaff in State capitals.
2. Satellite phones will be permanently positioned in Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Paradip to restore communications on emergency basis in case of sudden failure of telecommunications due to natural calamities.
3. An additional telephone exchange will be established in a separate location in Cuttack so as to provide flexibility and alternate communication to the system in this important town. Such arrangement already exists in Bhubaneswar.
4. An action plan for the coastal areas of Orissa will be prepared and executed which will include Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) and connectivity to all exchanges by reliable transmission systems to the district headquarters.

    The Minister further confirmed that the Internet nodes will be established by 26^th January, 2000 in all district headquarters and telephones will be available on demand by 31^st March 2000.
 
 

    More than 29,966 MT of foodgrains have moved till Nov 7, 99 late evening to various destinations by Air, Sea, Rail and Road. From Bhubaneswar 2516 MT of food supplies have moved to other affected destinations of Orissa. 378 tonnes of food by Army and 44 tonnes by Navy has been distributed.

    On Nov 6, six MI-8 helicopters and 2 chetaks carried out 33 sorties and air-dropped 57.4 tonnes of food packets at Bhadrak, Chandipur, Dhamra, Kuthar and Basudevpur. On Nov 7, six MI –8 helicopters airdropped 53.9 tonnes of food packets carrying out 21 sorties. Till date 365 MT of food supplies have been air-dropped at Bhadrak, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Puri, Keonjhar, Chandipur, Dhamra, Kuthar and Basudevpur. Cooked food is also being supplied through trucks and Army boats

    STD to all district Headquarters has been restored. All transmission links are restored. There is no congestion as enough circuits are now available. 480 channel connectivity between Bhubaneswar and Calcutta on optical fibre system via Barhampur, Koraput and Sambalpur has been restored and normalcy for ISD and STD has been brought about for Bhubaneswar. Main optical fibre cable between Cuttack and Calcutta via Keonjhar has been restored increasing another 480 circuits. Puri, Brahmagir, Baslisahi exchanges have been recommissioned. Connectivity between Puri and Bhubaneswar has been restored.

    Railway section from Howrah to Cuttack, Surat to Bhubaneswar and New Delhi to Puri has been opened. National Highway No.5 is open now w.e.f evening of Nov 6.

    582 MT of medical supplies have been sent to Bhubaneswar. Three field ambulance units( each equivalent to 30 bed hospital) are operating. Central team of 21 doctors, 100 doctors from A.P, 5 medical teams from UP, 33 doctors from Gujarat, 15 doctors from Army, 7 from Navy, 10 medical teams from CPUs and 150 Para-medicals are assisting State Government in treating patients.

    Situation of Power supply upto Nov8, 99 morning is Puri – 50 per cent, Khurda – 45 per cent, Bhubaneswar – 32 per cent, Ramsinghpur – 41 per cent & Cuttack – 13 per cent. Essential Power supply to Bhubaneswar, khurda, Cuttack and Puri is restored. 33 KV Bidanasi-Kalinga line is also restored. 220 KV TTPS – Bhanjanagar both circuits are in service.

    `There is no shortage of diesel at Dubri, Jagatsinghpur & Kendrapara. All petrol pumps have been instructed to sell kerosene. Higher quota of kerosene for next 3 months has been permitted.

    10 deaths due to Gastroenteritus in Niali and Oadaspur PHCs of Cuttack have been reported. Two medical teams are working in the affected areas to treat patients.

    Death toll has risen to 3401 (Jagatsinghpur – 2464, Puri-287, Cuttack-295, Kendrapara-149, Keonjhar-15, Khurda-76, Bhadrak-9, Nayagarh-3, Dhenkanal-26, Mayurbhanj-7, Balasore-30 & Jajpur-70). 1.65 lakh cattles have died and about 2,85,360 houses have been damaged. 7.04 lakh ha crop area has been affected.

    A team of senior officers from various Ministries will be stationed at Bhubaneswar to assist and coordinate relief work in Orissa.
 
 

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CENTRE TO AIRLIFT ONE CRORE HALOGEN TABLETS TO ORISSA SOON

    The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will airlift one crore halogen tablets for Orissa soon for purification of drinking water. This is following the request of Orissa State Government. According to the State Health Authorities ten deaths were reported today due to diarrhoea in Cuttack district. Two mobile teams with necessary materials have been rushed to the affected areas of the district. State Director of Health Services visited Cuttack district to supervise the medical relief activities today.

    A few thousand printed copies of guidelines issued by Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), for prevention and containment of water borne diseases for guidance of the State Health Authorities and District and Local Health Authorities, will be sent by air to Bhubneshwar tomorrow (9.11.99).

    Four senior experts led by Dr. Shiv Lal, Director, National Anti-Malaria Programme have been rushed to Bhubneshwar today by air to advise the State Health Authorities on prevention and containment of outbreak of disease.

    Senior officials of the Union Health Ministry are keeping a constant vigil by monitoring the situation on Health scenario of Orissa through keeping in touch with the State Government.