Residents negligent, say tricity health officials

Charu Chhibber

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30

As the tricity and surrounding areas reel under a twin outbreak of dengue-chikungunya, with several people testing positive every day, the health authorities are blaming the residents for failing to take necessary precautions to prevent potential mosquito breeding sites in and around their homes. 

Officials from the health departments of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula have said residents’ “negligence and careless attitude” was to be blamed for the alarming situation in the tricity.

Mohali Civil Surgeon Ranjit Kaur Guru said, “Time and again, residents blame the health authorities of inaction or inadequate preventive measures. But they fail to realise that they have a big role to play in the rapidly increasing number of dengue cases.”

She added that during filed visits, it has been found that most residents have failed to take preventive measures inside their houses. “They have taken it for granted that it is the responsibility of the health department to clean their homes. Our job is to check and eliminate the presence of dengue larvae, not clean every house we visit,” she said, adding that the disease could be controlled only if every resident ensured cleanliness in and around his/her own home.

UT anti-malaria officer Gaurav Aggarwal agreed, “The residents have stopped cleaning their homes, especially coolers, thinking it is our job. The health department can only check and eradicate the mosquito and its larvae. Maintaining cleanliness in their homes is their responsibility. If they fail, they are at risk of the disease.” He added that the existing infrastructure was adequate to deal with the situation; there was a need for awareness and a responsible attitude among the residents.

Panchkula Civil Surgeon VK Bansal said, “If dengue larvae are breeding in sites which are private assets of people such as flower pots, coolers, terraces, these need to be cleaned by residents themselves and not by the Health Department teams.” “If every resident takes care of himself and his own home, the tricity will be safe from diseases like dengue, chikungunya and malaria,” he said.

70 fresh dengue cases

Seventy fresh cases of dengue and four of chikungunya were reported from the tricity and surrounding areas here today. The number includes 25 fresh cases of dengue and three of chikungunya from Chandigarh; 43 fresh cases of dengue and one of chikungunya from Mohali district and two fresh cases of dengue from Panchkula. The total dengue count has climbed to 1,411 in the tricity and surrounding areas.