New Delhi, July 2007 - P.C. Thomas, an MP from Kerala, became the first parliamentarian to submit a memorandum to Pratibha Patil Wednesday, her first day as president, about the outbreak of viral fever in the state.

Thomas of the Kerala Congress (J) presented the memorandum to her while greeting her immediately after she took oath at the Central Hall of parliament.

The memorandum urged the president to declare the fever a 'national disaster'.

It said that a large number of people in Kerala were suffering from a 'peculiar type of viral fever and diseases like Chikungunya, dengue and Japanese fever and (that) other types of epidemics are spreading in several parts of the country'.

He gave copies of the memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and Minister of State for Environment and Forests S. Regupathy.