Mangaluru: Addressing a press meet here at circuit house on Monday, June 13, health minister U T Khader said, " To control malaria, dengue and other diseases which are identified during the rainy season, meetings have been convened with the concerned officials and necessary steps are being taken. We have directed all the Asha workers, Anganawadi workers and other officials to visit every house and create awareness among the public. To make sure that none of the house is missed out, we have asked them to collect the phone number and address so that we can cross verify.”

“Public should not fear about these diseases. They should be cautious and take precautionary measures by keeping the surroundings clean. We have appointed one nodal officer to every district and three mobile testing units and spray is supplied. No lab or hospital can charge more than Rs 500 for the tests pertaining to this. Any lab or hospital which charges more, action will be taken against them. I have directed all the taluk level officials to be on field and not sitting in the office and they will be responsible, " he added.

Speaking about expired drugs, Khader said, “There are about Rs 10 crore worth expired drugs in the state. Usually the expired drugs from government hospitals and PHCs are sent to district warehouse. From there the pharmaceutical company is sent the list of expired stock for which they give replacement but the expired drug is not given back. Such expired drug has to be disposed but there was no policy since 2000 as there was restriction by the pollution board for disposal of these expired medicines. Since I have taken charge we have formed an expired drug disposal policy. Accordingly tender will be called and medicines will be disposed. For disposal of all the expired stock, we need to spend Rs 1 crore.”