No dengue in camps

Ananda KANNANGARA

The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the cleared areas should not panic over outbreak of dengue epidemic due to several precautionary measures taken by the Health Department to prevent the disease, Health Ministry's Epidemiological Unit, Consultant Epidemiologist Dr. Hasitha Tissera told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

"But, we believe that this mosquito-borne disease will slightly raise its head in the North during the North-East Monsoon rain which starts in a few months," he said.

He however said his unit has taken measures to uplift the health conditions of over 150,000 IDPs in the cleared areas and several resettle families.

Quoting Health Ministry statistics, Dr. Tissera said that dengue has claimed the lives of 65 persons during the first four months of the year, but only 27 dengue patients were reported during the corresponding period of 2008. "This shows the diseases has significantly increased due to lack of preventive measures, taken by health authorities as well as the general public," he said.

He further said special health care units with necessary equipment and medicine will be established to minimise the number of dengue patients in vulnerable areas, such as Colombo, Kandy, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kurunegala, Kegalle, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Matale where number of deaths were reported this year. Asked what advices could be given from the Epidemiological Unit to eliminate the disease, Dr. Tissera said that all citizens especially schoolchildren must be educated on the danger of the disease.

"Laws must be imposed by local authorities to crackdown persons who do not destroy unused items in their gardens and those who dump garbage which helps the spread the disease," Dr. Tissera added.