the goan I network
VASCO
Admitting that dengue had been a cause for concern in Vasco, Vasco Urban Health Centre (UHC) Health Officer Dr Rashmi Khandeparkar has highlighted the manpower shortage and said it was difficult for 20 workers to cater to a town with a population of 1 lakh people.
Dr Khandeparkar later met councillors after the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) meeting on Thursday and sought the support and cooperation of the MMC to tackle growing number of cases of suspected dengue.
“Vasco city has a population of 1 lakh and we have only 20 workers, leaving each working to cater to a massive area of around 5,000 people and it becomes difficult. We simply cannot manage to take up all 25 wards simultaneously with only 20 workers,” Dr Khandeparkar told the councillors in the presence of media persons.
“We receive complains that all gutters are not sprayed with medicines and I want to say that we don’t adequate manpower to spray all 25 wards.”
“These 20 workers have a huge amount of workload, which includes blood tests, visit to construction sites, training programmes, awareness talks, etc. These 20 workers also have to carry out fogging and other works. We cannot even allot one worker for each of the 25 wards and despite this acute manpower shortage, we are trying our best. Sometimes, some of these workers fall ill sick themselves and we have to manage with fewer workers.”
“Even if we take extra labourers, they cannot replace our staff because they cannot detect breeding sites or take blood tests or give awareness talks,” said Dr Khandeparkar.
The health officer said the UHC has been concentrating on those wards where cases of suspected dengue have been reported. “Sometimes when we focus our workers in one area, cases are reporter in other locations and we have to move there. People then feel that their wards are neglected,” said Dr Khandeparkar.
She stated that dengue is of concern not only in Vasco but all over Goa, across the country and around the globe. “We have to take this issue extremely seriously. We must remember of the malaria epidemic in Goa in the 90s and it required around 20 years to be controlled and we are still dealing with malaria.”
“When we visit sites, people accuse us of ignoring clogged gutters and we have to explain that gutter waters could not be breeding sites for dengue, as mosquitoes linked to dengue breed only in clean water.”
“We request the MMC to clear clogged gutters so that people can at least welcome us in their area,” said Dr Khandeparkar.
