BANGKOK, 3 September 2011 (NNT) – The Ministry of Public Health has instructed its officials and village health volunteers to take care of mental health condition of flood victims after a number of them are suffering from depression.
According to Public Health Minister Wittaya Buranasiri, public health offices in provinces where the flood has subsided have been ordered to start their post-flood rehabilitation mission such as improvement of water for drinking and general consumption, disease prevention and mental healthcare.
As for provinces where the flood is still persisting, mobile medical teams have been dispatched to take care of people in all affected areas. Based on the team’s 530 patrols to give medical services for flood victims, 66,693 accumulative patients were recorded.
Top five diseases found among flood victims are athlete’s foot, influenza, muscle ache, headache and stress. Based on mental health examination of 4,238 people, 784 are found to be in depression, 183 of whom need special attention.
All of the mental health patients are now in the care of provincial public health authorities and village health volunteers, who will check their conditions continuously until they can recover and become normal once again.
As for waterborne epidemic watch, one or two new patients with leptospirosis are found each week. Diarrhoea was found in some zones, but was efficiently contained by staff members from the Department of Disease Control. No serious epidemic has been found so far.
Read more: NNT
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