Staff Reporter :
Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) minister Md Tajul Islam on Thursday claimed that the dengue situation is under control, just a day after 559 dengue patients were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka alone.
“We’ve taken it as a challenge and dengue is fully under control. Because all institutions are working together,” he said after launching cleanliness and anti-mosquito week in Dhaka.
Tazul said “failure to control dengue means giving up. But in reality, we haven’t.
The WHO on July 20 said the dengue situation is alarming in Bangladesh but it was not out of control. Earlier this month, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon said the medicines they were using to kill the mosquitoes were “slightly less effective than promised”. But on Tuesday he said a joint research conducted by icddr,b and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing ineffectiveness of insecticide against mosquitoes did not test samples of medicines used by DSCC. Minister Tazul said the medicine is effective. “We’ve confirmed this after tests”.
Khokon, who accompanied Tazul, rejected a claim that the number of dengue patients was 3,00,000 and dubbed it a rumour. “We’ll give a fitting reply by controlling dengue,” he said. Dengue, a mosquito-borne disease, infected more than 8,500 people since the beginning of this year and claimed eight lives, according to official figures.
A total of 561 new dengue patients were hospitalised across the country on Wednesday. Of them, 559 were from Dhaka City, according to Dr Aysha Akter, Assistant Director at DGHS. DSCC launched a campaign to destroy the breeding grounds of Aedes mosquito on July 21. Mayor Khokon said 68 mobile medical teams are working on the ground.
