Incidence of dengue and chikungunya in the district that once triggered panic in areas like Kadayanallur after a number of lives were lost to these vector-borne diseases, has come down drastically during the past one year, thanks to the awareness programmes conducted by the official machinery in an intensive fashion and the sustained drives launched to destroy mosquito breeding grounds.
According to the statistics provided by a senior official attached to the Department of Public Health, prevalence of dengue and chikungunya has been curtailed significantly. The district that witnessed 6,003 dengue positive cases in 2017 – 2018, has reported only 93 cases in 2018 – 2019, thanks to the effective anti-dengue operations and sustained awareness programmes.
Of the 6,003 dengue positive cases in 2017 - 2018, 1,785 were recorded in Tirunelveli Health Unit District (HUD) and 2,699 cases were reported in Sankarankovil HUD. Apart from this, 1,519 dengue cases were treated in private hospitals. The Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital doctors, who created a dengue special ward, then played laudable role in saving even critically admitted dengue patients.
During 2018 – 2019, the district had 93 cases – 22 in Tirunelveli HUD, 36 in Sankarankovil HUD and 35 in private hospitals.
“In other words, there is 98.50% downfall in the incidence of dengue in the district between April 2018 and March 2019. We don’t want to sit on these laurels. Instead, we’ve planned to bring down this figure further during the crucial period of June to September,” said a senior Public Health Department official.
As the residents are being forced to store drinking water owing to erratic and dwindling supply during this summer, the official machinery is gearing-up to unleash its war against dengue since the water storage points would be the potential breeding ground for mosquitoes spreading the vector-borne disease.
“Besides storing the water in closed containers, the residents should keep their surroundings clean. Overhead water tanks should be tightly closed. Apart from representatives of the local bodies, the health department officials will also inspect the houses and the houses under construction. If any of these places are found to be providing breeding ground for mosquitoes, the people concerned will be answerable,” said the official.
District Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish, who climbed-up 40-feet-tall overhead tanks at several places in the district to personally check water quality and mosquito breeding last year, said the dengue and chikungunya awareness programmes organised in coordinated fashion with the active participation of the public and the local bodies have greater impact on the stakeholders.
“When I recently visited a few villages in the district, rural school children could easily identify the Aedis mosquitoes spreading dengue and chikungunya. So, the awareness programmes conducted so far has reached the target group, which will help us a lot in curbing the dengue menace” she said.