Doctors to inspect migrant camps

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Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsThe Health Department is all set to make visits targeting the migrant labourer camps in the district. The move comes after the Department shut down two labour camps in Kakkanad owing to unhygienic living conditions and lack of basic amenities.A team from the DMO office, including the District Medical Officer, specialised doctors and health officials will be visiting the camps.It will assess the presence of hygienic toilets and other sanitation facilities, availability of potable water, facilities to prepare food and other basic facilities. There will be awareness programmes and sessions to screen the inmates of the camps.As part of the initiative, a massive health camp will be conducted in Perumbavoor with a team of doctors from various specialisations. Blood tests, urine tests and the like will be conducted and screening for diseases including malaria, leprosy, TB and other communicable diseases will be held.The government has already released funds worth about `2 lakh for the programmes, said District Medical Officer Junied Rehman.The visit will be centred on the labour camps around the plywood factories in Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam and Aluva and also the camps of construction labourers in Kakkanad.“Some of the inspections have revealed highly unsanitary conditions in these camps. Two of the camps that did not have any toilet at all were shut down. One camp in Kakkanad had as many as 200 people crammed in a single room in filthy conditions. The site owners and contractors who employ the migrants must ensure that their basic amenities are met. This drive is aimed at putting this message across,” said District Health Officer P N Sreenivasan.Panic UnfoundedThe health officials, meanwhile, said that the panic among the locals about the migrant workers spreading communicable diseases was unfounded.“There has not been a single case reported in the district where a disease has been spread from the migrant labourers to the locals,” the health officer said.Diseases like malaria are being reported only among the labourers who were infected from their hometowns in other states. “Once they reach here, unless a female anopheles mosquito bites them and survives for about 21 days and then bites another person here, the disease will not spread. In Ernakulam that breed of mosquitoes is rare and hence the absence of new cases. The issue is similar in the case of diseases like leprosy,” he said.first published:September 20, 2012, 09:56 ISTlast updated:September 20, 2012, 09:56 IST
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The Health Department is all set to make visits targeting the migrant labourer camps in the district. The move comes after the Department shut down two labour camps in Kakkanad owing to unhygienic living conditions and lack of basic amenities.

A team from the DMO office, including the District Medical Officer, specialised doctors and health officials will be visiting the camps.

It will assess the presence of hygienic toilets and other sanitation facilities, availability of potable water, facilities to prepare food and other basic facilities. There will be awareness programmes and sessions to screen the inmates of the camps.

As part of the initiative, a massive health camp will be conducted in Perumbavoor with a team of doctors from various specialisations. Blood tests, urine tests and the like will be conducted and screening for diseases including malaria, leprosy, TB and other communicable diseases will be held.

The government has already released funds worth about `2 lakh for the programmes, said District Medical Officer Junied Rehman.

The visit will be centred on the labour camps around the plywood factories in Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam and Aluva and also the camps of construction labourers in Kakkanad.

“Some of the inspections have revealed highly unsanitary conditions in these camps. Two of the camps that did not have any toilet at all were shut down. One camp in Kakkanad had as many as 200 people crammed in a single room in filthy conditions. The site owners and contractors who employ the migrants must ensure that their basic amenities are met. This drive is aimed at putting this message across,” said District Health Officer P N Sreenivasan.

Panic Unfounded

The health officials, meanwhile, said that the panic among the locals about the migrant workers spreading communicable diseases was unfounded.

“There has not been a single case reported in the district where a disease has been spread from the migrant labourers to the locals,” the health officer said.

Diseases like malaria are being reported only among the labourers who were infected from their hometowns in other states. “Once they reach here, unless a female anopheles mosquito bites them and survives for about 21 days and then bites another person here, the disease will not spread. In Ernakulam that breed of mosquitoes is rare and hence the absence of new cases. The issue is similar in the case of diseases like leprosy,” he said.