Health dept accused of negligence as malaria, dengue cases rise

As cases of dengue and malaria rise in the satellite city, members of the standing committee, on Thursday, accused the health department and solid waste management department officials of neglecting health and sanitation issues in the city.

Bringing up the matter during the meeting, NCP corporator Vikram Shinde said, “Cases of malaria and dengue are rising with every passing day, yet NMMC has no record of them. Several patients go to private hospitals and fail to inform NMMC.”

Shinde’s party colleague, Vaibhav Gaikwad, said, “We have been spending lakhs on fumigation to contain malaria and dengue yet the results are not visible. So many people have been detected with malaria and dengue since the onset of monsoon. How many camps have we arranged to create awareness about malaria and dengue?”

Shiv Sena corporator Vijayanand Mane said, “Some people are suspected to have got dengue in Koparkhairane, and NMMC started fumigation in the areas after this came to light. The work of fumigation should be carried out regularly.

Fumigation, even when done, is not carried out in a proper manner. Even when contractor lifts garbage from the road he does not spray DDT powder, which leads to spread of diseases.”

Standing committee chairman Suresh Kulkarni, who represents Turbhe where six deaths due to dengue have taken place, wanted to know why administration undertakes fumigation work only after deaths take place.

“Are you waiting for the deaths to take place? I want to know what action do you plan to take against the contractor doing fumigation work in a proper manner,” Kulkarni questioned the authorities.

Deputy municipal commissioner Aziz Shaikh, who is in-charge of the solid waste management department, admitted lapses in collection of garbage due to problems with present contractor M/S Antony Waste Handling. “It is true that garbage is not being collected regularly due to issues with the contractor.
However, we have appointed other contractor.”

Dr Ramesh Nikam, in-charge of health department, said, “As soon as we found out about suspected dengue cases, we fumigated the entire area and individual households. When we got to know of deaths due to dengue in Turbhe, we immediately approached residents; while some allowed us internal fumigation, some disallowed us from entering their home.”

He added, “From January to second week of September this year, 274 cases of malaria and 42 cases of suspected dengue were reported. Fifteen dengue cases were confirmed. When we compare this period to last year (i.e January-September 2012), we had 369 cases of malaria and 59 cases of suspected dengue, of which 14 were confirmed.”

Municipal commissioner Abasaheb Jarhad said, “I will hold meeting with department heads of solid waste management and health to chalk out a programme to tackle the menace of dengue and malaria.”