Agartala, June 20 (TIWN): Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Friday convened a high level meeting in civil secretariat which was attended by Health Minister Badal Chowdhury besides a host of senior government officials to assess the situation and chalked out a strategy to oversee and implement precautionary measures immediately, sources said.

All DM and DMO have been directed to strictly monitor the situation and deal with it with utmost urgency. The Chief Minister also directed the district administration and Health department to aggressively launch awareness campaigns on causes of   having   malaria and equip the villagers and other precautionary measures.
          
The health director has been directed to make arrangement for spraying DDT throughout the state; all primary health centres should be equipped with basic facilities.

The chief minister has appealed to the people to remain calm and avoid rumor and urged them to report immediately to the nearest medical centre and undergo treatment if affected. He asked the people to take precautionary measures.
Meanwhile , with the death of two more children in Gandacherra, the toll in the outbreak of malaria in the state has risen to 30, office of the Director of Family Welfare and Preventive Medicine told reporters tonight. The dead include 25 children. Over 5000 people have fallen ill from malaria and fever in the tribal-dominated mountainous areas of Dhalai, Gomati and South Tripura districts. To deal with the situation, altogether 143 medical camps were organized today in different parts. Around 1341 affected people were admitted to various government hospitals on the day.

A four member expert  medical team led by regional director (malaria), Satyajit Sen to study the outbreak of malaria epidemic  in the state on June 24.At least 50 health workers, including 26 ASHA (Accredited social health activists), 13 ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) and three MPW (Multi-Purpose Workers), have been either suspended or will face punitive action for negligence in work informed the health minister.