Mahbubnagar: Officials asked to take steps to repel dengue

Mahbubnagar: Collector S Venkat Rao has called upon the health and municipal officials to take up wide spread awareness on dengue disease in the district.

As the monsoon is about to begin in a week or two from now, the district Collector called upon officials to take up proactive measures to mitigate the possible spread of dengue disease in the coming rainy season.

"Dengue is a dangerous vector-borne disease; this disease spreads mainly because of dengue mosquito that will breed in stagnant waters. Therefore, we have decided to take up proactive initiatives to spread awareness on it. People must make sure their surroundings are kept clean and neat and ensure there are no stagnant waters or heaps of garbage in the nalas that enable mosquito breeding," said district Collector S Venkat Rao.

While marking the National Dengue Day on Monday, the district Collector flagged off a dengue awareness rally at Zillah Parishad grounds in the district.

"It is high time that the people must be awaken and create awareness among the poor and illiterate in the rural areas. The people have been asked to clean and throw away stagnant water from the drums, tanks and other stock points in the houses ones in a week and awareness about the deadly disease must be spread to the people so that they will take precautions," said the Collector.

The Collector stressed particularly about cleaning of stagnant water in used tires, cut opened coconuts, and other plastic bins and tins must be thrown away as they may serve as mosquito breeding grounds letting the dengue mosquito to thrive.

The Collector also urged the people to erect mosquito nets and all windows and doors of houses be fixed with netted doors to stop mosquitoes enter the house. Municipal and health authorities have been asked to conduct dry day every Friday in the gram panchayats (GPs) and municipalities to avoid spread of dengue mosquitoes.

Apart from cleanliness and neatness drives the authorities have also been asked to take steps for eradicating mosquitoes by using mosquito repellents.

District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO Dr Krishna, additional DMHO Dr Saraswathi, District Malaria Officer Dr Vijay Kumar, Dr Rafi and others took part in the dengue awareness programme.