Govt's top brass indifferent to dengue menace

by Ranil Wijayapala

Officials of the Public Health Department of the Colombo Municipal Council who are conducting dengue inspections in the Colombo city have found that some gardens of Government Ministers have also turned into mosquito breeding grounds apart from the premises of Government offices the Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said.

"How can we go ahead in controlling the dengue menace in the city when the top brass of the government is also not responding to the situation effectively", he said.

He said that the CMC's Public Health Department has filed 329 cases against places where they found mosquito larvae during their inspections. "In addition, we have issued 940 notices against the places where we found mosquito breeding grounds", Dr. Kariyawasam said.

He said the number of dengue cases reported so far this month had increased to 144 by Friday and another death of a 14-year-old girl of the Fathima Muslim School was reported increasing the number of deaths to five this year. In the city alone 1,381 dengue cases have been reported this year he added. "There was a 10 percent decrease in the number of dengue cases this month compared to the corresponding month last year. But we still have to be vigilant since the rainy season is continuing", Dr. Kariyawasam said. He said his officials had so far inspected 14,000 premises in the city and they are facing severe difficulties due to lack of staff to be deployed for this task.

The CMC has began spraying Local BTI in schools in the Colombo city by using a truck-mounted machine to check the spread of dengue among school children.