Chandigarh, October 21:
Giving a clarion call to people to join dengue control efforts, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab who also holds the portfolio of Health, asked people to observe ‘dry-day’ in the State on every Sunday, unfailingly. “To check the surge of dengue, it is mandatory that people clean all sorts of water containers at least once a week and break the larva breeding cycle,” said he.
Reviewing the status of dengue spread and the control measures put in place, in a virtual meeting meeting with all the Civil Surgeons and the epidemologists of the state, Soni informed that twelve lakh eighty thousand six hundred and forty five (12,80645) households have been inspected and mosquito breeding was seen in 21,683 househods. So, it is mandatory that people check water accumulation in their houses said he. In order to involve maximum people in observance of dry-day it is necessary to change the dry-day observance from Friday to Sunday because it is easier for working people to spare time for cleanliness/emptying containers on weekend and directed that henceforth, instead of Friday the Dry Day will be observed on Sunday. “This will give breeding inspection teams an access to greater number of households since more people would be at home to facilitate breeding inspection as compared to any other day of the week,” he added.
In the wake of rising number of dengue cases, “We have intesified Dengue control measures. Larva breeding inspection has been stepped up;strength of breeding checkers has been increased almost two fold”, informed DCM adding that 220 new breeding checkers have been roped in to support the existing 480 breeding checkers. The deployment of the number of additional breeding checkers per district has been done in proportion to the magnitude of dengue spread and the geographical area of the district, said Soni. The larviside and insectiside distribution has also been stepped up and IEC activities have been escalated statewide. Besides, the workforce of Municipal Corporation/Committees and that of Rural Development Department is augmenting the inspection teams and are assissting in fogging and spraying of larviside. The dengue hotspots and probable high risk areas have been identified and focussed control efforts are afoot.
Diagnosis and treatment efforts have also been strengthened. Requisite supply of dengue diagnostic kits is being made available. Nearly 28,000 tests have been done detecting approximately ten thousand dengue positive cases resulting in timely medical intervention. Fully equipped dedicated dengue wards have been set up in requisite hospitals, he informed.
DCM informed that as compared to the last week downward dengue trend has been observed this week in some districts which in encouraging but “we will continue sustained efforts till we successfully check the spike throughout the state.”
The Minister directed Civil Surgeons to rope in local members of Indian Medical Association(IMA) and local TV/ radio channels in furthering information dissemination and continue with breeding checking,spraying and fogging,unabated. He made it categorically clear to all the Civil Surgeons to “work pro-actively in crisis management mode else be prepared to be transferred.”
Health Secretary Vikas Garg and Dr. Andesh Kang Director Health and Family Welfare were also present on the occasion.
