Special team to combat dengue, malaria

The insecticide wing of BMC’s health department is likely to form a special team, which will detect dengue and malaria mosquito breeding larvae in all 24 wards of the city. The health official said that these team will go to particular places in the city where they have found more numbers of dengue and mosquito larvae breeding site in the last three years.

Recently, a white paper on health was released by the NGO Praja Foundation claiming that the number of cases of dengue in government hospitals and dispensaries has increased from 4,867 in 201213 to 17,771 in 2016-17, witnessing a growth of 265 percent during the period.

The insecticide officer said that two to three times the inspection will be conducted in the city to find out the dengue and malaria breeding site. “We have destroyed more than 10,000 breeding spots across the city. Moreover, civic insecticide department inspected residential areas from January 1 to July 18 and have sent more than 750 notices to the residents for potential breeding spots in their place,” added Rajan Naringekar, insecticide officer.

He further stated they would be inspecting those areas again where they had found a large number of mosquito and dengue breeding spots. “We are zeroing in on an average of three years of the areas in the city from where the huge number of dengue and malaria cases were detected. The special team will target these areas on a priority basis,” added Naringekar.

The health official said that the citizens should take more precautions and keep their surroundings clean. “Across the city, 432 people have been prosecuted in the last seven months. The fine collected from each errant is between Rs2,000 to Rs10,000,” said senior official.

Dengue cases have increased from 4,867 in 2012-13 to 17,771 in 2016-17, a growth of nearly 265%