[ad_1]
As the monsoon has set in, civic health officials have issued over 170 notices to builders, housing societies and slum-dwellers for failing to clear mosquito breeding sites on their premises, with close to Rs 1 lakh collected as administrative charges from January to June, according to Dr Suryakant Deokar, assistant health officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation.
Health officials said they were gearing up to tackle outbreaks of water-borne and vector-borne diseases. Of 461 suspected cases of dengue reported from January to June, 21 were confirmed in Pune city.
According to last year’s data, Pune city reported at least 5,194 suspected cases of dengue from July to December while the first six months saw around 700 suspected cases of the vector-borne disease. As many as 687 people tested positive for dengue last year.
An advisory was issued early this week to the insect control department and medical officers across 15 ward offices to enhance the preparedness levels by conducting daily surveillance of mosquito breeding sites, use biological methods (such as guppy fish) and encouraging the use of bed nets apart from taking up information, education and communication campaigns to schools.
“We have also imparted training to our medical officers, who in turn have held awareness sessions for health personnel at civic-run dispensaries and hospitals,” Deokar said. He urged private hospitals to report each case of dengue so that preventive measures could be proactively taken in the area where the case was detected.
When contacted, Dr Rajesh Gadia, consulting physician at the KEM Hospital, said, “We have started seeing a few cases of dengue, but usually we do see more patients a fortnight or so post the initial showers.”
Gadia stressed on collective responsibility. “Containers that hold water and fill up after rain could even be small tea cups or coconut shells. We need to ensure that there is no collection of water in our buildings, including empty containers or open drums that have been filled with water for over four to five days. Beyond the corporation’s exercise to monitor mosquito breeding sites, it is also the duty of each citizen to ensure that primary-level prevention of dengue and chikungunya is done at their own homes,” he said.
From January to May, Pune reported 9,199 cases of diarrhoea and 768 cases of gastroenteritis. Among other water-borne diseases, typhoid affected 350 people in Pune, according to data from the Pune circle health department. The circle includes the districts of Pune, Satara and Solapur.
Dr Abhijit Phadnis, assistant director (medical), Pune circle, said that accredited social health activists, multi–purpose workers and others had been involved in the daily surveillance activities. Guidelines have been sent to districts to prepare action plans to check both vector-borne and water-borne diseases, he said.
[ad_2]
