Health officials go into combat mode

Faced with new diseases every monsoon, the Health authorities are all ready with a plan for disease prevention this year. The plan involves all government departments chipping in to maintain hygiene and sanitation of public spaces under their control.

During the last several years, dengue fever had been the most tenacious in making the Health authorities sweat during the rainy season. The last three years had seen an increasing number of cases in the district. However, the number of deaths due to dengue has been brought down from three in 2011 to zero in the consequent years. This year, 23 cases of dengue have been reported so far.

The number of leptospirosis cases too goes up during the monsoon. The numbers have come down from 224 in 2011 to 163 in 2013, while the number of deaths has come down from eight in 2011 to three in 2012 and zero last year. This year, 42 cases have been reported so far.

Not leaving the mission of disease prevention to the Health department alone, other agencies such as Suchitwa Mission, Total Sanitation and National Rural Health Mission along with other departments, especially Transport and Fisheries, have integrated their resources to the mission on hand — keeping the vectors away, ensuring water safety and managing waste disposal.

While waste disposal remained a problem, work was getting done on the ground level in each ward, said a Health official. Zone-wise supervision was being done by senior Health officials in the district, the official added.

Block-level and PHC-level medical officers are expected to head surveillance in the respective areas. One of the main hurdles that the Health officials face during the disease prevention drive is the public apathy in participating in cleaning up one’s own premises. For a majority, maintaining a clean environment was the job of the government, said an official.