To tackle health challenges posed by water-borne diseases during the monsoon season and other seasonal vagaries, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a special statewide campaign against communicable diseases on Friday.

This month-long campaign was launched from BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur on Friday. A door-to-door Dastak campaign will start in the state from July 16 to 31 to prevent the spread of encephalitis, malaria, dengue, filariasis and chikungunya. Under this campaign, medical teams will go door-to-door to identify patients suffering from infectious diseases.

Addressing the public on this occasion, the chief minister said public health was not just the name of treatment, but awareness, inter-departmental coordination and teamwork played a big role in it. “It is the result of these things together that today eastern Uttar Pradesh is moving fast towards eradication of encephalitis,” he said.

The chief minister said five years ago, as soon as the month of July started, deaths due to encephalitis started occurring in eastern UP and patients used to get so crowded in BRD Medical College that the entire system used to collapse. “But, under our governance, ASHA and Anganwadi workers, teachers of Basic Education, Urban Development, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Child Development and Nutrition, and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities departments have joined hands with Health and Medical department and UNICEF, WHO and PATH organisations. It is the result of this teamwork that today UP has successfully controlled encephalitis and other communicable diseases,” he said.

The Japanese Encephalitis death rate has been reduced by 95 per cent and now there are hundreds of health wellness and encephalitis treatment centres which help control the diseases that get triggered in the rainy season, he added.

Urging people to be a bit more careful about the disease in advance, Yogi Adityanath said, “Together, we will bring down the death rate to 0. Children should not be taken to any quacks, but to specialists in government hospitals and should be treated with immediate effect.”

“Whether it is Japanese Encephalitis or Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, campaigns like special communicable disease control and Dastak are very important for their complete eradication. We all have to engage with such campaigns every three months in a year,” the chief minister said, adding that some areas of the state were affected by encephalitis and some by malaria, dengue, chikungunya or kala-azar. “With these campaigns and collective efforts, we have gradually got control of all these diseases,” he pointed out.

By joining collectively with the Special Communicable Diseases Control Campaign and Dastak Abhiyan, UP will be able to get effective control over every communicable disease along with encephalitis. Under the campaign, ASHA and Anganwadi workers, and employees of many departments, including the Health department and people of various organisations, will visit door-to-door and make people aware of communicable diseases. If anyone is found ill, they will also arrange for the treatment and provide a medical kit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to make India tuberculosis (TB) free by 2025. In this regard, arrangements have been made for free treatment of TB patients. It is the responsibility of all to inform the administration about any TB patient one comes across so that the treatment of the person concerned can be started. The government provides funds for the adoption of such patients. If UP becomes TB-free, it will not take long for India to become free from it.

Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister said that special cleanliness campaigns were being run with the inspiration from the prime minister.

From city to village, people at a large level have joined this campaign. Along with the cleanliness campaign, the mission to supply pure water to households is also being taken forward rapidly.

Encephalitis treatment centres were set up by BRD Medical College on a large-scale for the treatment of this dreaded disease. Pediatric intensive care units (ICUs) were arranged in community health centres and district hospitals. Special training was given to pediatricians and other staff and surveillance was increased. All facilities were made available in BRD Medical College (BRDMC) with the deployment of ventilators and an adequate number of doctors on every bed. Today, the positive result of all this is seen in the form of encephalitis control. A virology centre was established in BRD Medical College with the help of the Government of India. Today, BRDMC is the only medical college in India with a virology centre and it has developed a system to mark every viral disease.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in collaboration with Hindustan Unilever, presented baskets of nutritious food to five malnourished children on the occasion of the launch of special Communicable Disease Control and Dastak Abhiyan. The chief minister also performed ‘annaprashan sanskar’ of two children and gave nutrition kits to three pregnant women.

Yogi Adityanath also visited the health, animal husbandry, municipal corporation and malaria and TB eradication stalls set up at the venue. He also flagged off awareness vans for the Special Communicable Disease Control and Dastak Campaign.