Kolkata: Various civic bodies in the state have strengthened surveillance to check vector-borne diseases and also examining the drainage system under their respective jurisdiction to check accumulation of rain water ahead of monsoon. Health department has directed all the civic bodies to carry out a drive against vector borne diseases.
Barrackpore Municipality has started a drive of cleaning ponds which can become a breeding ground of mosquitoes. The civic authorities have decided to clean all the ponds ahead of monsoon rains. According to sources there are around 60 ponds under Barrackpore municipal areas. Most of these ponds are under private ownership and often filled with garbage. These ponds often turn into breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The municipality has also initiated a process to ask owners of the ponds to take up cleanliness drives. Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) has also initiated a comprehensive drive against dengue malaria. Various civic bodies in North 24-Parganas have also started campaigns against vector borne diseases.
Civic bodies are preparing a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen surveillance to check dengue and malaria this season. 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. The civic bodies have been directed to carry out anti vector borne drives in the houses situated in the dengue-malaria prone zones.
In the past two years the dengue malaria cases remained comparatively low in Bengal. The health experts apprehend that the number of vector borne diseases infected cases may go up this year.
Around 300 patients have been infected either with dengue or malaria in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) so far this year.
The number may go up after the monsoon. Health department already directed all the hospitals to stock an adequate number of testing kits ahead of monsoon season. State government has already cleared a fund of Rs 16.25 lakh for procuring kits.