Campaign in two stages:

CMC fights dengue outbreak

Construction sites common breeding ground:

Rafik JALALDEEN

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) staff in association with Colombo Rotary Club will launch a special program to prevent dengue mosquito breeding in the Colombo City. This dengue mosquito breeding prevention program will be held in two stages .

The areas worse affected are Borella, Colombo North and Colombo Central where large-scale construction activities are proceeding. A number of dengue patients were found in the Maligakanda area including construction workers and people living in the neighbourhood where huge construction works are in progress.

This year, around 1,900 dengue patients were reported in the Colombo city and 75 percent of them were under 20 years of age. Of them 206 patients were reported in July alone.

CMC City Chief Administrator Omar Kamil told the Daily News that Colombo and its suburbs are among the dengue high risk areas. Therefore, many proposals have been mooted and programs launched to deal with the situation and take measures to eliminate dengue mosquito breeding grounds.

“ The CMC in association with Colombo Rotary Club have organized programs to prevent dengue mosquito breeding in the Colombo city. This program will be carried out in two stages. The first program will be conducted next weekend in Colombo North and Colombo Central. The other campaign will be conducted weekend after in Borella, Colombo East and Colombo West.”

The most vulnerable areas or locations for dengue mosquito breeding will be given priority in the clean up operation , he added.

Kamil noted that house to house visits, schools and construction sites will be given special attention during the dengue mosquito breeding prevention program. Schools and construction sites were identified as high risk areas for dengue mosquito breeding adding that schoolchildren and construction workers head the dengue patients list.

“A meeting will be held at schools with principals, teachers, children and parents to ensure stagnant water is not allowed to remain in the vicinity of school premises,” he added. All CMC staff including Engineering division, drainage, road, solid waste, lands and traffic divisions will join hands with the CMC Public Health Division to conduct the dengue mosquito breeding prevention program. The CMC will coordinate the program.

The construction sites dotting the city landscape have been found to be the latest haven for dengue mosquitoes due to the large volume of water that are used at such sites but left to stagnate due to lack of a drainage system . These construction sites have been designated as high risk areas by the CMC and the public alerted to the danger posed by this latest detection of fertile breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes.

Colombo Municipal Council Public Health Department Director Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said at least five dengue patients who sought treatment were found to be workers at a particular construction site in the city. “When a huge construction takes place there is a tendency for dengue mosquito breeding. These construction sites are prone for dengue mosquito breeding due to water stagnation,” he added.