Continuing Medical Education-resurgence of Diphtheria

Welcome Address
The lecture began with welcome address, wherein Dr. M. Logaraj, MD, Head of Community Medicine department, first briefly highlighted the resurgence of Diphtheria in our areas despite the government’s consistent effort to curb the spread of disease. He explained that the disease gradually emerged again among the migrant children, whose parents were engaged in construction works around Maraimalai Nagar. “It is also commonly seen among the children irrespective of their states across India, whose parents have migrated to other states in search of jobs for their livelihood”. “These children have been left under the care of elderly people at their homes, who pay very less attention to their health”, he added. He warmly welcomed Dr. Palani, Deputy Director of Health, Kanchipuram Districtand said that Doctor had come to their hospitalthen to deliver a speech on Resurgence of Diphtheria, in spite of his busy work schedule.

Introductory Address
Dr. Sekar, MD, Head of Paediatrics department, SRM MC&RC gave a brief introductory talk and explained that Institute of Child Health used to have 80 to 100 children admittedregularly for treatment in the hospital with Polio Miletus, Neonatal Tetanus, Pertussis and Diphtheria, which had symptoms of sore throat, coughing and swelling over neck. In 1985, DPT vaccination was invented and administeredcontinually toall new born children, which prevented many killerdiseases. He pointed out that most recently, many children with Diphtheria had been identified in Malapuram, Kerala, because they had not been correctly vaccinated, as their parents were in Middle East Countries for long time employment in various fields. Similarly, Tamil Nadu had become a tiny hub of Diphtheria disease. It was due to many people migrating continuedly to Tamil Nadu state from Bihar, Orrisa, West Bengal Madhya Pradesh, Assam states. Children are mostly affected by the disease. The children of the migrant parents are susceptible to have disease, as they were not vaccinated on the right time. However, The Government of Tamil Nadu convened a meeting recently with health officials working across the state and assessed the existing situation in the state and geared up the works to curb the disease. The government has taken an appropriate measure to cover the adult population by administering vaccination to them, he added. With this he concluded his talk and welcomed Dr. Palani.

Subsequently, Dr. Logaraj requestedDr. Swaminathan, Medical Superintendent to honourDr. Palani. Shaking hands with him, Dr. Swaminatanwrapped a shawl over his body as a gesture of welcome and presented a memento to him. Then, Dr. Venkatesh, Medical Officer, PHC Maraimalaibriefly and formally introduced Dr. Palani to the participants and he called upon him to come and enlighten the participants withthe approach adopted to control and prevent Diphtheria in Chengalpattu district. He said Dr. Palani was a deputy Director of Health in Chengalpattu district and he had been taking adequate measure to prevent the disease from spreading further. He also requested him to highlight the steps taken to curb the dengue in Kattankulathur block at the end.