Fighting dengue with indifferent decisionmakers and ineffective subordinates
I strongly feel that the efforts of conscientious writers to the newspapers to draw the attention of decision makers, on matters that matter, often go unheeded – sadly! Perhaps the decision-makers of the Local Government authorities are far too busy and cannot find time to read the newspaper and give a hearing to citizens! Please refer to my letter published in this column on July 1, 2018 under the headline “Municipal councillors, get your act together and stop blaming citizens”.
Two week ago, four dengue inspectors ( I prefer to call them vigilantes) of the DGMC (clad in distinctive T-shirts) hov- ered around our area. If doorbells were answered by occupants, they had a chat. If doorbells were unanswered, the four of them marched off, regardless. I could not identify a Sanitary Inspector or a Supervisor among the four! They dropped by ‘ad hoc’, and the residents were not to know of their visit for inspection.
A week later, two dengue inspectors entered my kitchen! The probing, I gather was to check for mosquito breeding places within the home, perticularly the ‘Kussi (kitchen)’ and ‘ Kakkussi (toilet and wash-room)’! Fortunately, there were no water leaks hence no stagnant water gathered in ad hoc contraptions, such as pots, saucepans or basins!
They had explored the dengue mosquito breeding sites “microscopically”! One inspector’s I-phone photographs uploaded onto the Internet revealed photographically the breeding sites – known to them but unknown to residents – that they in their rounds would probe into. Pictures revealed the following mosquito infested places: (a) Roof guttering (b) containers kept beneath leaking kitchen sinks (c) tin cans lying in the backyard (d) mini-water ponds with aquatic plants (e) beneath flower pots (f) decaying leaves strewn in watered flower beds, etc.
In a country where key personnel are in office enclosures attending to paper work, and hence cannot oversee the ineffective activities of their subordinates, we the residents have to be thorough in our vigilance. Use your senses my dear compatriots. Do not rely much on services of those who are in those palatial political administrative environs.
In my case, though I take precautions to avert mosquito breeding in and around the house environs, I find I cannot spend a few minutes in my garden, in the evenings! Mosquitoes breed elsewhere (say, road-side drains) migrate for the blood meal, wherever there are humans!
Who should fumigate those places – them or us?
Dr. Susil W. Gunasekera
Via email