As we know Rainy Season is the best time of the year for mosquito for breeding and spread the fever to almost every corner of the city. As we see that the concerned authorities of the government have already mobilized groups of medical, dental and health technology students in almost all city wards to create mass awareness among the people against the fever. We must say the programme must produce results. It is always better to prevent the disease that go for curing treatment.
But question remains about the effectiveness of the mosquito fighting drive of the two City Corporations. Dhaka North City Corporation has announced a budget of Tk 20 crore for fighting mosquito this year against an allocation of Tk 23 crore last year. Reports said much of the fund remained unutilized while most money was misused for procurement of pesticides and spray machines. Similar stories of failure overpowered Dhaka South City Corporation’s drive to eliminate mosquito when most funds were grabbed under the cover of pesticide spraying.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor on Wednesday made the surprising disclosure that his mosquito fighting teams were failing to locate the presence of mosquito within city areas. They might be breeding in areas difficult to reach by his people. The claim seems to be quite sarcastic as the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya is on rise in the city. Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) recorded 228 chikungunya cases from June 1 so far while there is no sign that the menace is slowing down. Uttara-9, Moddho Badda, Gulshan-1, Lalmatia, Pallabi, Moghbazar Chowdhurypara, Rampura, Tejgaon and Banani have higher presence of the Aedes mosquitoes that carry chikungunya and dengue diseases.
Field study by DGHS has found a very high presence of mosquitoes carrying diseases over a five-day period recently in 47 out of 53 areas of the city. It listed 378 dengue cases and 400 cases of chikungunya between January 1 and June 15. It appears that though the fatalities from such diseases has gone down over the years, but the number of cases has not.
We must say the two City Corporations must prove effective to end mosquitoes menace in the city to win people’s trust that they are seriously trying to stop the outbreak, They must be capable to fight corruption and indiscipline. Any excuse can’t be acceptable.
