Hakim urges civic bodies to follow KMC plans to combat dengue

Kolkata: Mayor Firhad Hakim said all the civic bodies in the state should follow the strategies taken up by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation

(KMC) to combat dengue.

He held a high-level meeting on Friday afternoon to take stock of the measures taken up by the KMC to combat Dengue.

Rajiva Sinha, additional chief secretary ( health), Atin Ghosh, deputy mayor and other senior officials of KMC's health department were present at the meeting.

"As the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister I feel that all the civic bodies in the state should follow the strategies framed by KMC to combat dengue," he said adding " KMC is the role model in controlling vector borne diseases."

Hakim has urged the officials of KMC's health department to intensify the drive before the onset of the rainy season.

The KMC has divided the anti-dengue drives in three phases.

The first phase which began in February has ended in June. The ongoing second phase will continue till October while November and December will be the follow up phase.

The civic authorities have identified 20 vulnerable words and special drives are being conducted there.

The KMC officials are visiting the houses where people got afflicted with the disease in 2018.

They are talking to the patients. The KMC teams comprise workers from the health, building, sewerage and drainage departments. Many of the drives are led by Atin Ghosh who is the head of KMC's health department.

There are dengue detection centres in every borough. The KMC authorities have requested the private diagnostic centres to conduct ELISA method to detect Dengue instead of the rapid kit method.

The KMC has launched campaign to create awareness against Dengue in all the 144 wards under its jurisdiction.