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Health Minister Zahid Malik sounded ominous the other day when he cautioned everybody about vector-borne dengue becoming a serious problem this year.
The minister while talking to newsmen explained the reasons for apprehending a major outbreak of the disease that is lately affecting even remote areas of the country. It is the number of people found afflicted with dengue during the first five months of the current calendar year that has caused concern among the health directorate people. The health authorities detected over 1,100 dengue patients between January and May. The month of May last saw the largest number of patients estimated at 1,036. The actual number of dengue patients would be more, as many avoid coming to hospitals and clinics and some private health facilities bother least about passing on information to the health authorities. The official figure of dengue patients between January and May this year is six times more than that of the corresponding period of last year.
The city corporations and the residents of Dhaka need to pay due attention to the note of caution coming from a person none other than the health minister. The dengue menace can be tamed or even eliminated when corporations and citizens make coordinated and targeted efforts. But are they doing enough? Unfortunately, the answer until now is in the negative.
The primary responsibility of keeping the homes and their surroundings clean lies with city residents. They need to remove the discarded containers, coconut shells and other items that can hold rainwater. It is equally important to remove water from indoor tree pots. Builders and individual plot owners also need to see that water does not remain stagnated in and around their under-construction structures.
The other main actors in the fight against aedes mosquito that carries the virus (DNEV) to humans are city corporations and the health authorities. The two city corporations of Dhaka are, seemingly, yet to come out of their deep slumber though dengue is showing all the signs of becoming a serious health problem this year. It is hard to know if the chemicals the city corporations spray intermittently are effective in destroying the larvae of aedes or not. Lately, the mosquito eradication programme of the city corporations has lost steam. City corporation personnel carrying spray machines are seen rarely in city areas. Why is it so?
The situation should have been altogether different, particularly when the mayor of Dhaka North reportedly had led a team to the USA to gather first-hand knowledge about mosquito eradication there. The mayor needs to start applying the mosquito eradication method in the north of the city which usually sees more dengue patients than the south city corporation. Given the dengue situation unfolding this year, the city corporations must immediately embark on massive programmes to create awareness among the city residents and destroy the aedes breeding grounds. The corporations' honchos are likely to face a very tough situation in the months between July and September, the peak dengue infection time, unless they take appropriate preventive measures.
The health authorities, on their part, should strengthen further the mass awareness programme against dengue and make necessary preparations to handle more than usual dengue cases. Many city hospitals have been failing to make mosquito nets available to dengue patients. What is more worrying is that city hospitals do not have separate units for dengue patients. This makes other patients vulnerable to dengue infection. Going by the trend concerning infection rates and measures in place to destroy aedes breeding grounds, dengue will continue to be a seasonal health emergency in Bangladesh for years to come.