Guwahati: The state government of Assam ordered all districts to keep a close eye on the situation after Japanese encephalitis claimed one more life in the state, bringing the total to seven over the past eight days.
Since July 1, there have been 74 instances of JE reported in the state, including 25 cases on Friday, according to a statement from the National Health Mission (NHM).
JE, which is spread by infected mosquitoes, experiences an annual spike in cases at this time.
“In this regard, all medical college and hospitals have been communicated for the arrangement of dedicated ICU beds for AES/JE cases,” it said.
To help vaccination teams control JE/Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) cases, zonal medical colleges’ departments of community medicine have been urged to provide assistance.
All districts have received a seven-point order for the handling of JE/AES cases, according to the statement.
Creating separate wards with designated ICU beds and oxygen beds in all district hospitals is one of them, as is making it mandatory for specialised doctors to collect procedure samples while taking the necessary aseptic precautions.
The referring hospital must arrange for the transportation of suspected as well as confirmed AES/JE patients in an ambulance equipped with a life support system. In addition, the statement stated that cases needed to be located and confirmed using the proper medical procedure.
All districts have been urged to establish comparable helplines, while a state control room with the toll-free number 104 has been established.
District Rapid Response Teams must analyse each AES case, find management deficiencies, and provide weekly findings to the state headquarters. The teams must be alerted.
Additionally, special district task force meetings will be held in each district, and the statements from these sessions will be delivered to the NHM state office in Guwahati, according to the release.
Last year, authorities in the state reported at least 40 deaths attributed to JE.