Bankura starts massive drive against dengue and malaria
KOLKATA: Bankura district administration has started a massive drive against dengue, malaria in the wake of an alert from the state health department saying that dengue malaria cases may go up this year.
According to sources, around 5 dengue cases and 11 malaria cases have been detected in the district in the past 5 months. In 2021, around 4 dengue cases and 13 malaria cases were found in Bankura. The experts apprehend that the number of dengue and malaria infected patients may go up this year. The district administrations have already identified hotspots which are the breeding grounds of mosquitoes. Conservancy workers have been carrying out cleaning of drains and also ensuring that there is no accumulated water in the area.
It may be mentioned here that around 190 places across Bengal have been identified as dengue-malaria prone zones out of which 10 are in Kolkata. State health department has asked all the concerned civic bodies and district officials to carry out a home-to-home survey in those places falling under the identified spots.
Various district administrations and civic bodies have been directed to carry out anti vector borne drives in the houses situated in the denguemalaria prone zones.
Mapping had been conducted by the district health departments and the civic bodies to identify the spots where dengue malaria cases were reported in large numbers in the past few years. A survey was performed in all the districts including the health districts. Apart from the city there are around 22 places identified in North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly as dengue-malaria prone areas. All the concerned civic bodies have been asked to collect samples from the houses in the affected areas on a daily basis.
Health department also directed all the hospitals to stock adequate numbers of testing kits ahead of monsoon season. State government has already cleared a fund of Rs 16.25 lakh for procuring kits. Initially, five hospitals will buy serotype testing kits.
They are SSKM Hospital, North Bengal Medical College, Murshidabad Medical College, Midnapore Medical College and the School of Tropical Medicine. Each hospital will get around Rs 3.25 lakh for procuring kits.
Earlier, following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s instruction, various civic bodies are preparing a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen surveillance to check dengue and malaria this season. Anti dengue campaigns have already been initiated in different districts and also by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). Chief Minister Banerjee during a recent meeting asked the top brass to conduct an effective drive against vector borne diseases.
The district Health officials have already been asked to strengthen surveillance to ensure that there is no accumulated water in any places. Ahead of the rainy season, the State Health department has directed all the government hospitals and laboratories to conduct malaria and dengue tests if the patients are suffering from fever and other suspected symptoms.
All laboratories and government hospitals will also have to share data relating to dengue, malaria tests with Swasthya Bhawan on daily basis.