Concerned over burgeoning cases of viral fever in the city, the district health department has geared up health measures to tackle the grave situation.
The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme’s (IDSP) district officer Sahir Pall who is also district Vector Borne Disease Control Program (VBDCP) officer on Wednesday sent letters to all the 35-odd Government and private hospitals and nursing homes to provide information within 24-hours of detection of chikungunya, malaria, dengue, and Japanese encephalitis symptoms in patients to the office.
Directive has also been issued to the local urban bodies (Jamshedpur notified area committee, Mango notified area committee, Jugsalai municipality and Jusco) to increase fogging and spraying of bleaching powder and larvicides known in areas under their command.
Pall in the district said that they have issued a directive to the hospitals and nursing homes to immediately inform about any suspected dengue cases. The local urban bodies (Jamshedpur notified area committee, Mango notified area committee and Jugsalai municipality) and Jusco have been asked by the district health department to clear accumulated water and clogged drains on a war footing in their areas.
‘We have asked our men to carry out fogging exercise in the affected areas of Jugsalai and Mango with focus on identifying and destroying unused containers storing waters in houses and localities and educating locals about steps to prevent breeding of dengue vectors,’ said a senior administrative official. This exercise would be held simultaneously with routine methods of spraying larvicidal in the area.
Pall noted said: ‘We need to understand that mosquitoes that carry the virus of dengue do not come from outside, rather they generate from the household things like flower-pots, coolers water, rejected tyre kept on the roof top or in the corner of the garden. So we must ensure that there is no such place where water is stagnant for sometime’. He said that the administration will launch a special drive to create awareness on dengue and the Health Department will monitor the onset of the disease.
East Singhbhum civil surgeon Dr S. K Jha said: ‘We have decided to carry a massive dengue/chikungunya awareness campaign after Eid in the city and its outskirts as such cases come up mostly in city and its outskirts. There will be door-to-door search campaign in identified locations which had cases of dengue, chikungunya and Japanese encephalitis cases where residents would not only be informed about vector diseases symptoms but also water collecting containers destroyed in houses by district VBDCP staff’.
The VBDCP office has also written to the state health department and Delhi-based National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for provision of sufficient stock of Elisa test kits at the vector test lab in Jamshedpur.