Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Health Minister Ashok Bhatt said a sickle cell prevention and control centre under this study group would be created at the Surat Medical College, besides modern medical equipment at a cost of Rs 40 lakh would be installed for the blood diagnosis in 38 community health centres in South Gujarat.

Referring to a recent survey, Bhatt said the sickle cell disease was detected among 1.5 per cent of the total tribal population of South Gujarat. A sickle cell prevention and control camp will be organised on January 23 in Surat, where MPs, MLAs, district panchayat chiefs and medical experts from the region will be invited.

The health department had succeeded in controlling the spread of malaria in the State, the minister said, claiming that only 64,000 malaria cases had been registered this year, against 1,60,000 cases recorded in the State last year. Similarly, the falsiparum malaria cases had come down from 40,000 last year to only 14,000 this year.

Bhatt attributed this to the concerted anti-malaria drive launched by his department this year, in which, among other measures, the anti-malaria medicines worth Rs 14 crore had been used. The government's proposal for setting up a Rs 11 crore epidemic forecasting centre with the help of the British Council is pending with the Centre, he added.