Army at Sampanthan's apartment — for dengue inspection

In a modest second floor apartment built hurriedly for the NonAligned Summit in 1976, Tamil National Alliance leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan was at a meeting.

There was a knock on the door. He was so busy he ignored it. More knocks and the door was opened by an aide. A young Army officer stood to attention and saluted him. He said he wanted to check the toilets in his apartment. They were in an operation to detect dengue mosquitoes.

Sampanthan promptly agreed. A group of soldiers walked in to the bedroom and then to the toilet to inspect behind the wash basin and the toilet seats. Minutes later, the officer saluted the TNA leader again and said "Thank you, Sir."

That was how the Army was now engaged in a dengue prevention campaign. It was only last week President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the weekly ministerial meeting that Health Ministry officials were not doing enough towards eradication of this menace.

However, Public Health Inspectors attached to different local bodies are active.

One of the places they went to this week was Nigeria's Ambassador's residence located down Rosemead Place in Colombo 7.

Initially the PHIs were told that there were no dengue mosquitoes in the premises and hence there was no need for them to inspect.

However, once the Public Health Inspector said they had to ensure this was done, they were let in.

The PHI, after the inspection, left as they were satisfied the premises was free of any dengue breeding sites. Luckily for the PHIs, the occupants did not claim diplomatic immunity and refuse entry.