Fighting dengue virus: Insecticide sprays to be available from TMAs in five districts

Additional chief secy says people should approach the relevant TMA for the insecticide

LAHORE: Free anti-dengue mosquito insecticide must be available at town municipal administrations in high-risk districts, Additional Chief Secretary Shamail Ahmad Khawaja said at a meeting on dengue prevention and control at the Civil Secretariat in Lahore on Wednesday.

Deltamethrine 5%, the insecticide used to kill dengue mosquitoes and larvae, would be made available for indoor residual spray in houses in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad and Multan. “We want people to approach the relevant TMA in their areas and obtain the insecticide so they can spray it in their homes,” Khawaja said.

Commissioners and DCOs of the five high-risk districts joined the meeting via video-link. They told Khawaja about measures taken to eliminate dengue mosquito larvae and to drain stagnant rain water in open spaces.

Khawaja expressed his satisfaction with the pace of work by the indoor anti-dengue surveillance teams at town and tehsil levels. He took notice of the fact that private hospitals had not provided the government data regarding any dengue fever patients brought to them. He directed officers to ensure that data in this regard was reported regularly to the Punjab Information Technology Board’s dashboard set up in the committee room of the Civil Secretariat.

All medical officers and paramedics assigned to anti-dengue fever wards at public and private hospitals should be trained for the job, Khawaja said.

The additional chief secretary termed the primary carrier mosquito a “house mosquito”. He said 90 per cent of the dengue fever cases reported so far had occurred because of dengue mosquitoes indoors. “This specie of mosquitoes cannot fly more than a distance of 200 feet. This necessitates indoor residual sprays of deltametherine 5% inside houses,” he said.

He directed officers to ensure that the TMA staff would respond immediately to any demand for indoor sprays by households. “TMAs are bound to provide indoor residual spray facility to each and every household free of cost if demanded,” the additional chief secretary said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2016.