Preventing dengue outbreak

DAVAO CITY Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio appeared to have been unsatisfied with the way health authorities and personnel in the city are doing their job in the fight against dengue.

She said she is alarmed by the high mortality rate among dengue patients in the city, which already reached 19 deaths from over 4,000 cases since January, this year amid the city government’s efforts to intensify its campaign against the mosquito-borne disease.

Most of the deaths are children, the oldest of whom was only aged 5.

“I want to see a decrease from July to December, otherwise, there is a need to find new people for this job,” warned the mayor in a statement issued yesterday.

Last year, eight patients in the city died due to the virus carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

“That the number of deaths could reach this high is definitely disconcerting and I am appalled because the government is supposed to be doing everything to prevent the breeding of the mosquitoes carrying the virus,” DuterteCarpio said.

For the city mayor, dengue is preventable “if only efforts to prevent the spread were done and were done efficiently.”

Knowing the city mayor, these pronouncements only showed that she is serious -- that heads will roll if this problem is not addressed.

The City Health Office needs to review its anti-dengue programs if these are still effective. If these need to be intensified, CHO personnel have to work double-time to ensure anti-dengue measures are properly implemented even to the remotest barangays in the city.

Close monitoring for effective implementation of these programs is now the order of the day. Visit the barangays, educate the people on the dangers brought by this mosquito-borne disease and how to prevent it.