Mosquito menace: AMC educates society guards

The state Health Department has sanctioned Rs 6 crore for the vector-borne disease control programme,particularly in the urban areas of the state.

But residents in the posh areas in Ahmedabad northwest zone are unwilling to let the health department workers eliminate the breeding sites of mosquitoes in the area.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is now approaching security guards and secretaries of the societies to find a way out of this.

AMC entomologist Vijay Kohli said: There is reluctance from those staying in the societies,and so we have started educating the security guards. They can apprise the AMC urban health centres about the mosquito breeding spots in the areas and help us eliminate the aedis egypti mosquito,which is the responsible for dengue.

He added: We are distributing pamphlets and organising meetings with the society secretaries as well. Earlier,Information,Education and Communication (IEC) exercise was carried out by 1,400 workers on a contractual basis. With the available funds,we might revamp the structure and appoint volunteers for awareness and collection of blood samples for the vector borne disease.

He said that 347 cases of dengue have been reported in Ahmedabad city.

Officials of the Directorate of Malaria,Gandhinagar,said on condition of anonymity that this years delayed and irregular rain has provided a favourable breeding condition for mosquitoes.

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Work on the vector-borne disease control programme is now on in Memnagar,Vejalpur and Bodakdev.

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