The government will observe June 16, 23 and 30 as ‘dry days’ in the state during which extensive anti-mosquito and cleaning drives will be conducted to arrest the spread of contagious diseases. While ‘dry days’ will be observed in government offices on Fridays, it will be observed in homes on Sundays, Health Minister V S Sivakumar said here on Thursday.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the programme in Kottayam on Sunday. Schoolchildren will also be roped in and dry days will be observed on all Mondays in schools.
“The programme has been launched to ensure the participation from the Minister-level to the ward member-level. The clean-up drive to prevent breeding of mosquitoes will be led by Ministers in charge of respective districts and MLAs in their respective constituencies,’’ Sivakumar said.
Under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, every Tuesday will be set apart for cleaning activities for the next three weeks, he said. Squads, led by Deputy District Medical Officers, have been formed in each district to monitor the disease prevention activities. These squads will visit various areas and study the spread of mosquitoes and diseases and effect necessary changes in the functioning of field officers. These squads will be monitored at the district-level by District Medical Officers.
The reports from the squads will be passed on to the Epidemic Management Cell by the Additional Director of Health Services. The Cell will then assess these reports and, along with suggestions, forward these to the Director of Health Service and the government, Sivakumar said.
The directions from the state will be passed on to the district level and the squads have been entrusted the task of implementing such directions, the Health Minister said.