Awareness on dengue: Health Dept engages volunteers in Doraha

The Health Department seems to be all charged up to give a tough fight to dengue by engaging volunteers of educational institutions for holding awareness camps and inspections in order to check and prevent its spread in Doraha and surrounding areas.

A team of the Health Department comprising block extension educators Swati Sachdeva, multipurpose health supervisor Sukhminder Singh and multipurpose health workers Davinder Singh, Kamalpreet Kaur and Avtar Kaur, along with NSS volunteers of Sidhu Nursing Home, Guru Nanak Lab and Guru Nanak National College, conducted inspections at hospitals, police stations, laboratories, educational institutions and houses in Doraha to check the potential breeding sites of dengue larvae.

Payal SMO Harwinder Singh shared that as per instructions from the Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, surveys were being conducted regularly by the breeder checker in hotspot areas of Doraha.

“Awareness activities are being carried out in collaboration with various educational institutions as a matter of routine. The team ensures that any material which can be a source of dengue be discarded there and then. Teams of the Health Department are also conducting activities under ‘Dry day, Friday’, wherein they try to reach the unvisited spots to create awareness and check the leakage spots which may be cause the spread of dengue. Gambusia fish are being released in local water bodies to combat mosquito-borne diseases. It is generally a good biological method against mosquito breeding,” he added.

“These mosquitoes usually breed in containers, tanks, disposable junk material such as discarded buckets, utensils, tyres, flower pots, etc. Also, the team is regularly visiting private hospitals, private labs, government hospitals and slums, etc. for a surprise check and caution the organisations and establishments to abide by the necessary norms to check the spread of dengue. June will be observed as “anti-malaria month” and July as “anti-dengue month”. The information, education, communication (IEC) activities will continue throughout the transmission season of dengue.

Block extension educator Swati shared that the symptoms such as high fever, vomiting, joint and bone pain need to be taken seriously. “In some cases there is redness all over the body, high chill and body aches, diarrhoea, sore throat and even chest pain. Further the team also asked the people to protect themselves by wearing full sleeves shirts, using mosquito repellents, creams, mosquito nets, etc.,” she shared.

“We are taking steps at our own level and educating the public regarding precautions against dengue by holding door-to-door visits. Friday is observed as a dry day to check and remove all stagnant water from the residential places and public places as well. The residents need not panic, rather keep themselves protected,” she added.

“We have asked the people to wash their hands especially before any sort of food intake, take a healthy diet, cover their nose before sneezing, avoid cut fruit and over ripe fruit, etc. The residents too are being advised to report any sort of viral fever, which is getting aggravated with the passage of time. The present situation demands that as a precautionary measure the residents need to check primarily that there is no stagnant water around their places,” the block educator shared.