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Take steps to control seasonal diseases like dengue and malaria, GVMC Commissioner directs officials in Visakhapatnam
The Hindu
GVMC Commissioner urges officials to focus on controlling dengue and malaria, with measures including spraying, fogging, and awareness programmes.
Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) Commissioner C.M. Saikanth Varma has asked the officials to lay special focus to control seasonal diseases like dengue and malaria. He conducted a meeting with the public health wing and malaria wing officials here on Saturday.
During the meeting, Mr. Saikanth Varma said that as the sanitation workers had gone on strike for many days, there was a possibility of a rise in mosquitoes, which may cause seasonal diseases. He enquired about the measures taken to control the diseases in the last few years.
Mr. Saikanth Varma said that the total number of dengue cases reported during the years 2021-22 and 2022-23 were 53 and 56 respectively. During the year 2023-24, the total number of dengue cases reported so far was 24. This year, dengue cases have decreased due to extensive awareness programmes conducted on seasonal diseases, he said.
About 726 Malaria staff are working under GVMC, out of which 200 workers are used for activities like anti-larval operations such as spraying and fogging. In addition, 399 malaria staff have been recruited to tackle dengue cases. Oil ball spraying and fogging would be undertaken in all the wards to prevent the breeding of dengue-causing mosquitoes, he said.
The officials were directed to carry out spraying and fogging operations once a week in every ward in the city. Ward volunteers, ANMs, and Malaria staff will visit every house once a week to prevent the growth of mosquitoes and to undertake awareness programmes to prevent seasonal diseases. He said that 20 lakh gambusia fish were allocated for release into ponds and water bodies of the city for the prevention of mosquito breeding, and 15 lakh gambusia fish have already been released.