Malda: The Malda district administration has decided to observe ‘dry day’ every Wednesday in all the blocks and municipalities to stop the spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria. The drive is being taken as a precautionary measure. The decision was taken in a health review meeting held on Wednesday at the Collectorate building, the office of the district magistrate of Malda in the presence of health officials. It has been further decided to strengthen the fever clinics at all hospitals and health centres to combat any situation.
On these dry days, the vector control teams will visit households to get rid of stagnant water so that no mosquito larvae can survive. The health department is also keeping a strict tab on the spike of fever cases in any area. Once such a place with multiple fever patients is located, the entomologists from the district will visit the place to collect water samples for tests. Then the whole area will be made void of stagnant water and other means of restricting the spread of such diseases like spraying insecticides will be taken up.
The number of cases of such diseases is very low this time in Malda so the district administration is keen on taking preventive measures against its spread. Experts also said that heavy showers can also wash away the mosquito larvae from places but Malda is currently not having such rains. Therefore, the district administration will to take these steps for the coming three months which are crucial for the spread of such vector-borne diseases. Nitin Singhania, District Magistrate Malda, said: “Prevention is better than cure so various steps are being taken to stop the spread of vector-borne diseases. All this was discussed in the review meeting of the health department.”