Hyderabad: Anti-mosquito ops go hi-tech

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will use to sensors to identify the density of mosquitoes and kill them. Such devices will be placed at high-risk areas both to the north and south of the Musi River. This technology has been used in cities like Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh that work on Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

These devices, costing Rs 60,000 apiece, will analyse and transfer mosquito density data and location to a central database. A control room app will provide mosquito density heat maps that will help prioritise anti-larval operations.

GHMC commissioner D.S. Lokesh Kumar said the devices have a range of 500 metres. The system of devices will function autonomously using the IoT technology and will come in handy to contain mosquito breeding and eliminating them. The system will alert, with real-time data, health and other agencies on the geographic areas responsible for vector-borne diseases.

He said the GHMC will continue fogging and anti-larval operations until December and 650 entomology teams will be on the job. Fogging operations will continue daily in 150 colonies. The MyGHMC app, ‘Dial 100’, and a call centre have been set up for immediate response to complaints of sanitation and the mosquito menace.

The GHMC said an SMS blast spreading awareness of mosquito menace has been sent to 10.5 lakh city residents. “Additional doctors were deployed in hospitals like Gandhi Hospital, Niloufer Hospital and the Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communica-ble Diseases (Fever Hospital),” he said.

“As many as 25 additional doctors in each hospital were deployed apart from primary treatment in 105 Basthi Dawakhanas.”