Dengue: negligence all around

Widespread malaria and its more dangerous version dengue fever in the city is yet another disturbing development for its dwellers. Every day more and more cases of deaths and dengue fever are reported in the city, as the local people pass sleepless nights. Yet the top health officials, advisors and bureaucrats are trying to downplay the issue. They believe that the issue has been blown out of proportion by the newspapers. Instead of waking up to the horrors caused by malaria and dengue, they advised the government to run a public awareness campaign, as if the fault lies with the people and not the government. Instead of taking a long-term view of the problem, the doctors feeling the heat from the Chief Minister are praying for an early rain and setting in of winter. We all know that mosquitoes do not survive in harsh wintry conditions. Before that some hospitals took all the pain to conceal the facts about the dengue patients being admitted, instead of blowing the whistle for the government. Some action now is witnessed in this area, though quite late in the day when the sprays of insecticide should have been long completed.

The spread of disease in the presence of a vast army of councilors is most shameful. Basically, it is the responsibility of the local governments to adopt measures for the malaria control. It is at this level, spray of insecticides is conducted regularly at places, especially the ones counted as breeding grounds of mosquitoes.