MAPUSA
With the spiralling trend of dengue cases continuing, the Bardez Block Committee for Control of Vector Borne Diseases has appealed to public to undertake a massive cleanliness drive in their respective homes and neighbourhoods in order to celebrate a dengue-free Ganesh Chaturthi festival in the State.
The committee also resolved to activate the village panchayat committees and promote public cleanliness drives to combat the spread of dengue.
The Member Secretary of the committee Dr Cheryl D’Souza informed that various steps were taken by the Mapusa Urban Health Centre to check the spread of dengue in the town.
“Most of the dengue cases identified in various wards of the Mapusa Municipal Council were due to persons getting affected at their place of work outside Mapusa,” D’Souza said, who is also the Health Officer of Urban Health Centre, Mapusa.
The Health Officer was addressing the meeting of the Bardez Block Committee for Control of Vector Borne Diseases recently held at the government complex Mapusa.
The meeting was chaired by Deputy Collector Gurudas Desai.
D’Souza said that IEC campaigns in the wards, advocacy workshops for MMC councillors, source reduction drive and fogging were undertaken in the wards.
Besides, a special meeting for the nodal officers was held to brief them on the precautions that need to be taken, she said.
The Primary Health Centres of Siolim, Porvorim, Colvale and Aldona shared their status reports besides providing details of the active construction sites and the steps taken to screen the labourers and issuing of health cards to them at these sites.
Co-ordinator GOACAN Roland Martins emphasised on the need for proper documentation on the hotspots and high risk areas, besides calling for the active involvement of all the other departments like the PWD, WRD and Labour.
He highlighted the need for regular meetings at the panchayat level of the Garbage Management Committee, Water and Sanitation Committee and the Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC).
The Deputy Collector Gurudas Desai called on the MMC officials to take active interest in supporting the efforts of the Mapusa urban health centre and directed the BDO representative to follow up with the 33 village panchayats to activate the various committees.
