By IANS,
Chennai : Full sleeved shirts and trousers can protect for students and adults against mosquito bites leading to dengue, union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here Friday.
Azad was here to chair a review meeting of health ministers and health secretaries of the four southern states – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala – as well as the Union Territory of Puducherry – relating to the health situation particularly dengue in this region.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Azad suggested school students should be allowed to wear full sleeved shirts and trousers to reduce the chances of mosquito bites.
He said schools should allow students to wear full sleeved shirts and pants till the number of dengue cases comes down.
He said education ministers of the four states and Puducherry should issue necessary guidelines for this while stressing that there is no need to panic in this region as the governments are on the right track in handling the situation.
According to Azad, the central government would provide increased flexibility to states in tackling vector borne diseases under the National Rural Health Mission.
Azad also said the municipal corporations, urban local bodies and other local bodies should undertake campaigns for sanitation and cleanliness.
The meeting also decided to carry out fogging to kill adult mosquitoes while spraying of larvicides at mosquito breeding centres.