A master plan for mosquito eradication in Madurai is ready and it will be submitted to the Corporation authorities soon.
The Centre for Research in Medical Entomology (CRME) here, a premier laboratory of the Indian Council of Medical Research focusing on vector-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria and chikungunya, has prepared a ‘feasible plan with practical solutions' to reduce mosquito menace to a substantial extent in the Madurai Corporation area.
“We will be submitting a background paper on mosquito breeding scenario in our Corporation area to the authorities concerned in the next few days. The master plan, we are confident, will become a model for other cities and towns,” B. K. Tyagi, Director, CRME, told The Hindu on Sunday. He said that the plan had incorporated scientific documentation of mosquito breeding habitats and how to eliminate breeding sources/disease transmission in the city and surrounding areas.
Dr. Tyagi stressed that the objective of evolving a specific plan was to reduce mosquito menace and thereby the burden of vector borne diseases. A team of scientists and entomologists of CRME had worked in great detail for preparing the master plan.
“We are offering practical solutions based on historical evidence. With the administrative will of Corporation officials and public health authorities, certainly we can tackle mosquito menace in Madurai city,” he said.
The anti-mosquito master plan calls for multi-sectoral cooperation of various departments, including Public Works Department, agriculture and health. All the stakeholders will have to work in tandem.
Dr. Tyagi informed that the plan adequately focused on critical aspects like waste disposal, recycling of waste and preventing water stagnation in residential areas which was very important for prevention of mosquito-borne diseases. The infrastructure required for implementing the plan was also explained in the background paper.
“We will try to impress upon the Madurai Corporation authorities to implement our model and CRME too will participate in its implementation. The proposed master plan will also be submitted to the Directorate of Public Health of Government of Tamil Nadu,” he said. Once the Madurai model is studied in detail, it can be replicated in other places.
