DUBAI // Expatriates from flood-stricken India and the Philippines are being advised to have precautionary vaccinations if they plan to spend the holidays at home.
Dr Ram Kumar Sundaraperumal, a physician at Aster Medical Centre in Dubai, said people who were travelling to flood-affected areas should be vaccinated against diseases such as hepatitis A and typhoid. They should also take malaria medication.
Such vaccines are not covered by standard health insurance. The hepatitis A vaccine costs about Dh140 and typhoid vaccines cost Dh100.
“Water-borne diseases like typhoid fever, cholera, leptospirosis and hepatitis A are common during flooding. It’s not just the vector-borne diseases (transmitted by insects) like malaria, dengue and dengue haemorrhagic fever that are major health risks,” Dr Kumar said.
Most of the risks, he said, were from contamination of drinking water facilities and stagnant water. He advised families who will be in such areas to discourage children from playing near stagnant or contaminated water.
Other precautions include drinking chlorinated and filtered water, avoiding eating stored food items and washing hands after using the toilet and before having food.
Preventive measures should also be taken for avoiding mosquito bites, such as sleeping under netting, applying repellent cream or using coils.
Dubai resident Mercy Sutha and her family will be in India visiting family and friends in flood-ravaged Chennai.
The 44-year-old mother of two teenagers worried about the flooding situation and any post-flood diseases in her native city.
“We are excited and happy to be there, but we are equally concerned about the health situation. Apart from Christmas gifts, I have also packed lots of emergency medicines to avoid any unforeseen situations,” said the physiotherapist.
Jason Alexander, another Indian expat, said now was not the time to take traditional Christmas gifts for family and friends.
“We should gift them such things that could help them in such difficult times. For example, mats, bed sheets, school bags, rice, cooking oil, milk powder, medicines and other needed items,” he said.
A native of Tamil Nadu, one of the states affected by the flooding, Mr Alexander said he would be celebrating Christmas in Dubai this year. He advised those going to flooded places to be extra careful.
“It would not be a normal time back home. One has to be extra careful to be safe and healthy, especially when most of us are not used to such an extraordinary situation while living away from home for so many years.”
More than 50 per cent of Indians in the UAE are from the southern state of Kerala. Many others are from neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Since last month, the southern Indian states have endured severe flooding.
In Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, more than 400 people were killed and tens of thousands of people were displaced by the rain.
With estimates of the damages and losses amounting to up to 100,000 crore rupees (Dh55billion), the floods are the costliest this year.
Similarly, heavy rains that pummelled the whole of the Philippines have escalated the flooding and killed at least 45 people.
akhaishgi@thenational.ae
