Thursday, 11 July 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The State Health department will appoint volunteers for all the 100 wards in Dehradun in one week to curb the occurrence of dengue this year. With the onset of monsoon season, the department has intensified its efforts to rein in the dengue menace.
Informing this, the district surveillance officer, Dr C S Rawat said on Wednesday that the department is fully prepared to take on the dengue challenge. “Acting on our direction, the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) workers are now engaged in an intense 330 campaign to make people aware of how to stay safe from this dreaded vector-borne disease. They have been reaching households in their designated wards since July 1. Each ASHA worker is currently visiting 50 houses daily to spot and destroy dengue larvae,” he added.
Rawat further said that the department has constituted a Rapid Response Team (RRT) to monitor places where larvae are predominantly found. “The RRT monitors these areas and instructs the municipal corporation where to intensify fogging. Besides, the health department this year has devised a new action plan to reduce dengue cases compared to the previous year which saw a surge in them in the city. To execute this, the department plans to enlist volunteers for all the 100 wards in Dehradun. As per our plan, volunteers will be appointed by the end of this week and will begin their assigned work from July 15. The volunteer visits will not just ensure daily dengue monitoring but educate people on preventive measures to curb the spread of dengue larvae in their vicinity,” he said.
Plus, the department has recently conducted a meeting with the private lab centres and have instructed these establishments to strictly adhere to the limit of rates for dengue test as fixed by the department. This limit includes the rate for dengue ELISA test fixed at Rs 1,100, the Rapid test (NS1) at Rs 500 and the Rapid test (NS1+IgG+IgM combo) at Rs 800.
