Tk 5.32cr DNCC proposal approved for directly purchasing mosquitocide
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday approved around Tk 5.32 crore to purchase fogger machines, sprays and insecticide to control Aedes mosquitoes -- the carrier of dengue and chikungunya viruses.
The committee approved the proposal of Dhaka North City Corporation to purchase 200 fogger machines, 150 sprays and 40,000 litres of insecticide to control Aedes mosquitoes within a quick possible time.
“We have given approval to purchase these items directly, considering national interest and financial requirements, as it can take substantial time to purchase them through tender process,” said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at a press briefing after the meeting at the Cabinet Division.
DNCC has assured them that they will improve their services so that people of the country are protected from dengue and chikungunya, he said.
Kamal said they will make the purchase within a month and this will strengthen their capacity.
“We think they will be able to control Aedes mosquitoes,” he said.
He said officials have already visited several countries, and their next destination is Singapore.
Singapore applies a method where they draw mosquitoes to one place and kill them with chemicals, he said.
8TH GRADER DIES IN DHAKA
Meanwhile, an eighth-grader of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College died of dengue at a private hospital in Dhaka yesterday, taking the death toll to 130.
However, the official figure is 57.
Isra Taskin Asmita, 13, daughter of Amanat Maula and a resident of Azimpur area passed away around 7:30pm at Millennium Heart and General Hospital in the capital’s Lalmatia.
Isra, a student of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College’s Azimpur branch, was admitted to the hospital on August 26.
She was diagnosed with dengue the following day and taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) later as her health condition deteriorated, said Naim Anas, executive officer of the hospital.
Reaz Ahmed, Isra’s uncle, said she had been suffering from fever since August 21
She was admitted to Labaid Hospital in the capital on August 22, and later moved to the Millennium Hospital on August 25.
Reaz said Isra’s father is one of the managers of Ashuganj Power Station.
Isra enrolled in Viqarunnisa School this year and lives in Azimpur along with her mother and a younger sister, he said.
Meanwhile, the pressure of dengue patients in different hospitals has started to come down, as currently 3,588 patients are undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country. Of them, 1,989 are in Dhaka.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 820 dengue patients were admitted to hospitals across the country in 24 hours till 8am yesterday, of whom 345 were in Dhaka.
The total number of dengue patients rose to 73,565. Among them, 42,183 are in Dhaka.