Mewat ‘hyper-sensitive’ after 1,300 malaria cases

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, September 14

The state government has declared Mewat hyper sensitive, following a malaria epidemic with 1,340 cases being reported.

The Health Department has sent additional force to battle the epidemic. Though the district malaria authorities have managed a commendable decline till now as compared to over 3,000 cases last year, the department is taking no chances and has ordered special attention for state’s malaria capital, Ujina.

Situated some 20 km from district centre Nuh, this block is a cluster of five villages. Though it accounts for only nine per cent of Mewat’s population, every year it contributes to over two-thirds of Haryana’s malaria burden.

This year, out of the 1,300 cases, over 1,050 have been reported from Ujina block villages, including Nosera, Kontlaka, Sultanpur, Dehkli and Jaisingh Pur.

Last year, the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Ujina recorded 2,468 out of the total 3,643 cases of Malaria in Mewat. The actual number of malaria patients is much higher as most residents go to private practitioners.

While there are many factors for the annual outbreak in the area, the key culprit is filthy, mostly stagnant water in the drains that makes the area particularly vulnerable to mosquito-borne diseases.

The problem gets aggravated as a substantial number of residents have taken to fish farming, which adds to stagnant water that serves as breeding spots for mosquitoes carrying malaria-causing larva.