BENGALURU: With monsoon around the corner, the civic body is gearing up to prevent the spread of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases. Earlier this week, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara held a meeting with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials to discuss preparations for the rainy months. With 459 cases of dengue confirmed on the city outskirts, and 257 cases recorded in the core areas so far this year, officials state that there is a need to bring more awareness among citizens to ensure that the numbers do not rise during monsoon. The civic agency is now supplying 40,000 information pamphlets in each of the 28 MLA constituencies in Bengaluru.
“Our main focus is source reduction,” Dr Manoranjan Hegde, BBMP’s Chief Health Officer, said, revealing that they are giving information on prevention and cure to people in areas, and making them aware about spots that are ideal ground for mosquito breeding, such as coconut shells, broken tyres, cement tanks, and open plastic tanks, where find clean stagnant water can be found.
“Citizens should also be aware that these mosquito bites happen during the day. So they need to protect themselves, especially while sleeping. Our health inspectors are visiting households zone and ward wise, and distributing the pamphlets,” Hegde added.
The pamphlet also lists the symptoms, treatment and preventive measures to be taken, and that free medical treatment is available at any of the city’s BBMP hospitals. Residents have also been asked to cooperate with the health department on taking control measures such as using mosquito repellent sprays. These measures can also prevent Chikungunya, another BBMP health officer, said.
Also, mosquito repellents will be sprayed in at least 50 houses around the household with a dengue case, Dr Ravikumar Surpur, Special Commissioner (Projects), said. “Most outbreaks start from within the household itself. So citizens must take precautionary measures,” he added, stressing that though BBMP is doing its best to tackle the disease, it will require support from citizens as well.