Anti-dengue campaign kicks off in Amritsar

Even as Punjab Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh kicked off a campaign against dengue here on Friday, staff found dengue larvae at four places in the city.

A function was held at Senior Secondary School located at Karampura in Ranjit Avenue. Besides school children, ASHA workers and nursing students participated in it. On the occasion, teams of the Health Department conducted inspections for dengue larvae in the school and surrounding areas, during which they found dengue larvae from about four places.

After this, the Health Minister made all the students, ASHA workers and nursing students aware of this by showing dengue larvae. He said it was natural for water to accumulate in many places during the rainy season, but along with this, mosquitoes will also breed. It is the responsibility of all of us to cooperate with the Health Department to prevent mosquito breeding and not allow water to accumulate anywhere, because to avoid dengue, it is most important to prevent mosquito breeding. Besides, the use of sprays, fogging and mosquito repellent creams can also save us from dengue.

On the occasion, Civil Surgeon Dr Kirandeep Kaur said teams of the Health Department are going to all the hotspot areas of the city.

She said dengue is a viral fever, which is caused by the bite of a mosquito called Aedes aegypti. The mosquito lays eggs in clean water which in a week turns from egg to larva and from larva to adult mosquito. Therefore, a dengue campaign is being run every Friday of the week so that the life cycle of the mosquito can be broken and it can be eliminated at the larval stage itself. The common symptoms of dengue include severe headache, high fever, muscle and joint pain, pain behind the eyes, vomiting, bleeding from the nose, mouth and gums. Therefore, in case of suspicion of dengue fever, one should immediately get a free check-up and treatment from a government hospital.

Among others, District Epidemiologist Dr Harjot Kaur, District MEIO Amardeep Singh, Dr Kuldeep Kaur, Principal Anu Anand, along with all ASHA workers and students of Government Nursing College were present on the occasion.