City corporations’ lackadaisical fight against dengue
We are dismayed that despite dengue becoming a formidable menace for months, the Chief Health Officer of Dhaka South City Corporation is now talking about forming 57 committees in 57 wards of the city in order to destroy mosquito breeding grounds. It is incomprehensible that the city corporation should have such delayed reaction in the wake of what health experts and even the High Court have termed as an epidemic. Already 5,500 cases of dengue (from January to June) have been reported and the disease is taking dangerous turns as more and more children are being infected, many of them with the haemorrhagic strain. Children are especially vulnerable to dengue because of their weak immune systems.
Dengue cases have been reported since January so what was the city corporation waiting for all these months? The disease has been a regular feature for many years and it is the city corporation's job to destroy mosquito breeding grounds and apply appropriate insecticides and create public awareness regarding prevention of Aedes mosquitoes' breeding. Mosquitoes have become resistant to the insecticides normally used to eradicate them. If that is so, why hasn't the city corporation taken steps to obtain alternative insecticides/methods beforehand instead of waiting for the disease to spread? Already people have died of the fever and many, including children, are hospitalised and suffering.
The callousness with which the city corporation has treated this crisis is disappointing and reckless to say the least. Early intervention in terms of awareness campaigns, destroying breeding grounds and eradicating the mosquitoes with the right insecticide could have prevented the disease from spreading so quickly and affecting so many people. Haemorrhagic dengue causes internal bleeding of organs and can be fatal if not treated properly. But it also has long-term effects on certain organs. Surely this is a serious enough issue for the city corporation to take steps long before such an epidemic occurs?
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