BBMP living in denial, says there's no dengue outbreak

BENGALURU: While city hospitals are having a hard time coping with the number of people coming down with dengue this monsoon, the BBMP remains in denial mode. “There is no outbreak of dengue as such. We are only seeing sporadic cases of the disease,” claimed BBMP health officer, Dr Lokesh.

Asked about the measures being taken to contain the disease, he said teams had been formed to destroy the mosquito larvae in areas where it was known to breed and create awareness about the precautions people needed to take against dengue. “Asha members, link workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM) are doing a survey and working to create awareness,” he maintained.  

Explaining that the Aedes aegypti mosquito mostly bred indoors, especially around ornamental plants and stored freshwater, he said teams had been formed across all 198 wards to conduct a larvae survey and spray chemicals where necessary.

“Since the larvae has a seven-day life cycle, our workers are visiting open places like bus stops, vacant plots and other places to identify breeding zones. The survey will continue till September,” he added. Teams will also visit  government, private schools and residential localities to create awareness about the precautions people need to take against breeding of the mosquito.

As storm water drains can be a mosquito breeding ground, the BBMP is using two power sprayers to  keep them free of the winged menace in each assembly constituency, according to him. “Where secondary and tertiary drains are concerned,  health officials and gangmen have been directed to spray bleaching powder to keep mosquitoes at bay,” he added.

Ask him why there is no widespread fogging, and Dr Lokesh says under World Health Organisation guidelines it can be done only in localities where dengue is reported. “We  sometimes do fogging in slums before dengue cases are reported there. Otherwise we don’t  do it  as it's highly dangerous to people with respiratory ailments,”  he said, assuring that after periodical review meetings, the measures would be intensified if need be.