NMMC continues anti-malaria drive

Health officials visit more than 3.34 lakh houses from Aug to Oct, detect 5L mosquito breeding spots

CBD BELAPUR: With winter setting in, the civic body has intensified its campaign against dengue and malaria.

According to the statistics present with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), health officials have visited more than 3.34 lakh houses in the city from August till October and detected around 5 lakh mosquito breeding spots.

NMMC medical officer of health Dr Deepak Paropkari said, “We are doing our best to spread awareness on the issue and prevent the spread of fever. All action is being taken to curb the mosquito menace.”

An NMMC health official requesting anonymity said, “The NMMC officials had inspected 2.86 lakh houses in the city in April and May. By August, they had already inspected 3.34 lakh houses and detected the presence of 5,28,000 mosquito breeding sites. These included the discovery of 348 spots, which had larvae of anopheles mosquito, 1,038, which had the aedes larvae and 22 with the culex larvae.”

“We had a challenging task at hand as areas under the NMMC’s jurisdiction witnessed a huge rise in malaria and suspected dengue cases at the start of the monsoon and hospitals were witnessing a rising number of patients suffering from high fever,” added the official.

“To bring the number of malaria and dengue cases under control, it was necessary to spread awareness amongst the local residents,” he said.

“For this, the civic administration distributed around two lakh pamphlets containing information on the rise in mosquito-borne diseases and how they could be prevented, at various housing societies. Around 1.75 lakh handbills, 10,000 three-fold booklets and 20,000 stickers have been distributed too,” said the official.

Among the other measures undertaken by the civic body, 135 hoardings were put up across the city to ensure the message reaches every resident.

“We also organised around 92 camps and exhibitions across several nodes in the city,” said the official.

The NMMC also undertook 72 training sessions for anganwadi personnel on preventive measures and held 220 meetings with primary and secondary school principals held to create awareness.

“Our measures have yielded results but we will not relax. We will continue to work hard to ensure the residents do not face problems,” said Dr Paropkari.

AMONG THE OTHER MEASURES UNDERTAKEN BY THE CIVIC BODY, 135 HOARDINGS WERE PUT UP ACROSS THE CITY TO ENSURE THE MESSAGE REACHES EVERY RESIDENT