Mosquito Breeding Control Act in force:

Rs. 23,000 fine, jail await mosquito 'breeders'

Nadira Gunatilleke

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry enforced the provisions of the Mosquito Breeding Control Act strictly from yesterday.

MOH officers will visit homes to detect mosquito breeding places, a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

He said MOH officers will give three warnings to heads of households and owners of properties who have mosquito breeding sites in their properties.

Legal action will be taken against the breeders after the third warning, the spokesman said. A fine of up to Rs.25,000 or a six month prison sentence or both can be imposed on them.

The prison sentence can be longer according to the nature of the offence because some persons have huge mosquito breeding sites with hundreds of used tyres which put villages and towns in danger, the spokesman said.

The Ministry has identified 163 MOH areas that have been badly affected.

This is almost half of the total number of MOH areas in Sri Lanka. Colombo and Kandy districts are badly affected than Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Ratnapura, Kurunegala, Kegalle and Anuradhapura, he said. The Ministry requested the public to pay more attention to mosquito breeding places such as parts of the banana tree and parts of other similar trees.

The Ministry will hold a special discussion with NGOs to obtain their contribution towards destroying mosquito breeding sites.

All private hospitals are required to inform the number of dengue deaths to the Ministry but some private hospitals do not do it. This is another problem, he added.