Howrah Municipal Corporation set to launch early fight against dengue

The Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) will hold meetings with doctors and private health care centres to avoid unnecessary panic caused during the season of vector-borne diseases mainly dengue. Because of global warming, aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can spread dengue fever have changed breeding seasons and the state government has decided to launch awareness campaign to stop spreading of the disease from winter itself.

Bhaskar Bhattacharjee, Member Mayor-in-Council (Health) of HMC, said: "From our experience in the previous years, it was found that there had been cases when the corporation was not at all informed that a person had got affected by dengue.

"But people in an area and a particular locality had come to know that so many persons had got affected by the disease and it results to panic out of nothing."

"The set guidelines have to be followed by the medical practitioners. The government or the local civic body has to be informed within 24 to 48 hours when a dengue case gets detected or else how a local body could take the step to avoid spreading of the disease in the area.

Within a few hours, the civic body has to send its representatives to take necessary measures so that the disease doesn't spread," he said.

The civic body has already initiated its awareness campaign to avoid spreading of any vector-borne disease. There is special stress being laid on dengue.

A central rally was organised a few days ago in which people from all walks of life had participated. In a bid to carry the message up to the grass root level, similar rallies will take place in all the 66 wards till March 5. Councillors of each ward will be heading the rallies along with medical officers.

"Awareness is the best way to prevent spreading of the disease and it is expected that the initiatives will work out well as it has been taken with still some time in hand. People need to take necessary steps to avoid accumulation of water surrounding their houses," Bhattacharjee said adding that rallies are a part of the programme of the civic body to fight against vector-borne diseases and there will be a meeting soon to finalise the due to course of action.

In the meeting, the final decision on meetings with health care units and private medical practitioners will be taken.

There is also a plan to ask the decorators associations in Howrah to take step so that water does not accumulate at the place where they store bamboo and other materials.

Usually water gets accumulated inside bamboos when those are kept vertically straight and it becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Thus, they will be asked to store bamboos under a shed. The final decision in this regard will also be taken in a meeting scheduled to be

held shortly.