As many as 113 dengue cases have been reported in the district in the last seven months with 81 cases in Vijayapura city alone. This figure has raised questions on the ability of the city corporation, which is primarily responsible for maintaining hygienic conditions in the city, to combat dengue.
The Health and Family Welfare Department officials said that they had informed the corporation about the increasing number of dengue cases in the city in May.
“When the department detected 16 dengue cases in May, it conveyed the message to the corporation suggesting to take immediate precautionary measures … but it seems they are not serious about the matter,” an official of the Health and Family Welfare Department said.
The official said that the number increased to 56 in June which the department believes is because of lack of preventive steps such as fogging, cleaning of stagnant water from drains and lack of awareness programmes initiated by the corporation.
“No doubt that our department has a main role in educating the masses about dengue and taking steps to prevent the spread of dengue. But the higher responsibility lies with local bodies as they have a separate section for such works,” the official said. Since the dengue-spreading mosquito’s lifecycle lasts for 30 days — during which it lays about 800 eggs— at least seven rounds of fogging on alternate days should be conducted to kill them. “The dengue mosquito is active during day time … hence those who spend more time at home such as children, aged and pregnant women are prone to the disease,” the official said.
He, however, expressed happiness over the presence of only type-1 and type-2 dengue in the district which are not as dangerous as type-3 and type-4.
When contacted, Harsha Shetty, the newly appointed city corporation commissioner, admitted that a lot should have been done in the past to prevent the outbreak. About fogging, he said that since the corporation has only six small-size machines and six more high-capacity machines will soon be procured . “Meanwhile, I will focus on getting all the waterlogged drains cleaned. I will also convene a meeting of the corporators to conduct awareness programmes in their respective wards,” Mr. Shetty added.
