Kochi: The Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja declared Ernakulam district Nipah-free on Monday,after a 23-year-old man who had positively detected the virus, was discharged from hospital after nearly two months.
“Now there is no need to fear. If Nipah case is detected anywhere, then we will all get together again to fight it,” said health minister K.K. Shailaja.
The man, hailing from a village near north Paravur, was undergoing treatment at a private hospital for the last 54 days. All the hospital expenses were borne by the hospital. “The boy will get back to normal life. He can go to college within a couple of weeks,”said Cdr Jelson Kavalakkaat, CEO Aster Medcity.
More than 300 people who were in direct and indirect contact with the student were traced and convinced that they need to be in quarantine at home. Isolation wards were set up in the Kalamassery Medical College in Ernakulam and in various other government hospitals across the state. Though in the subsequent days some were isolated at Kalamassery Medical College, nobody tested positive for the disease.
The minister said the state is in the process of setting up a biosafety level 3 lab in the state and has got approval from the central government. “If patients are diagnosed on time, more lives can be saved. We will give Rs 50 lakh to purchase equipment for the lab,” said Dr Azad Moopen, Founder and CMD, Aster DM Healthcare.
Shailaja also congratulated doctors and other medical professionals for their efforts to check the outbreak.
