To ensure better health of its people, the Delhi Government is all set to launch "combat vector-borne disease" programme starting from September 1.
Disclosing previous three years health records focusing dengue and chikungunya, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said cases of vector-borne diseases have dropped by 80 per cent from 2015-18 contrary to all over India where the number of cases escalated to 1,88,401 in 2017 from 60,000 in 2009.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime claimed that the number of deaths also decreased in past three years. Citing Health Department data, Kejriwal said , "In 2015 , total number of deaths due to vector borne were 60 whereas the deaths number decrease to only four in 2018."
Conspicuously, India is among the 100 countries highly affected by vector borne disease. "If we look at the national level, there was an increase of 300 per cent in the Dengue and Chikungunya cases between 2009 and 2017. The number of cases of Dengue and Chikungunya increased to 1,88,401 in 2017 and the large number of deaths happened in 2017," Kejriwal said.
Announcing the campaign '10 Hafte, 10 Baje , 10 Minute Har Ravivar , Dengue Par War', Kejriwal urged people to inspect their home for just 10 minutes every Sunday to ensure there is standing water where Dengue mosquito can breed.
Lauding Mohalla clinics and 500 fever clinics, Kejriwal said in Delhi in 2015, the total number of dengue cases stood at 15,867, while the number decreased to 2,798 in 2018. It also resulted deaths being recorded at four as compared to 60 in the corresponding period ". "It is possible due to Mohalla clinics, as people don't have to rush to big hospitals as medical services are available in Fever clinics," Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal announced that he will begin this campaign from his own house on Sunday and will check that there is no stagnant clean water in any of the sources where mosquitoes can breed. "We appeal to the people of Delhi to give 10 minutes on every Sunday at 10:00 AM to check all sources of stagnant water in their homes, as the Dengue mosquitoes breed only in clean water" Kejriwal said.
"We are asking for just 100 minutes from the people of Delhi that they can definitely afford to save Delhi from Dengue and Chikungunya", he said.
Kejriwal also said that health and education are the priority sectors of AAP government. "In 2015 - in the very first year itself, our government increased the Health Sector budget to 14percent. The budget for the health sector has been increased to Rs 7800 Crore in the current financial year," he said.
"We have made unprecedented infrastructure development in the health sector. In order to enhance access to primary healthcare, we started Mohalla clinics and polyclinics, drastically improved the facilities at the specialty hospitals. Apart from this, we are creating new hospitals with good infrastructure and advanced facilities" Kejriwal said.