Centre reviews bird flu situation, asks states to be prepared

New Delhi, Dec 22 : Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today reviewed the Avian Influenza situation in the country following the outbreak of the disease in West Bengal and Assam and asked all the state governments to upgrade preparedness to deal with the bird flu.

At a high-level meeting of various ministries and state governments, the Health Minister looked into the current level of preparedness of various agencies in dealing with the bird flu and decided to write to all the Chief Ministers and Health Ministers to upgrade the preparedness to deal with the disease.

The Health Minister expressed concern on recurrence of Avian Influenza in West Bengal and requested the health set-up of the State to scale up their preparations and efforts to deal with the situation. He advised the state to carry out a regular drill to deal with the disease, irrespective of the outbreak conditions.

Dr Ramadoss emphasised the need to increase the awareness campaign in order to educate the people to adopt safe practices and cooperate in the culling operations. He assured all the states of full support from the Centre for their efforts and asked them to utilise this situation to create a standing infrastructure to deal with Avian Influenza in future also.

The Health Minister was informed that after December 16, no fresh outbreak had been reported. He was also informed about the containment efforts and culling activities along with the details of human surveillance.

The meeting was attended by senior officials from Ministry of Health, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Home, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Governments of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Bihar, and Jharkhand.

--- UNI