Go to any neighbourhood in the city and and you are bound to hear of dengue having paid it a visit at one time or the other. But the good news is the city has seen fewer cases of the fever (404) so far this year than last year when 1,047 were reported and even 2012 when 868 were recorded in Bengaluru.
Also, there have been no deaths from the disease so far this year unlike in 2013 when there were 12 and 2012 when the fever claimed 21 lives in the city.
Ask BBMP deputy health officer, Dr Naveen and he says there have been fewer cases of dengue this year only because the monsoon has not been as intense.
Clearly this explanation gives no room for complacency and with the garbage problem looming large in the horizon with the deadline for dumping at Mandur fast approaching, the city cannot afford not to take precautions.
Says BBMP commissioner, M Lakshminarayana, “We are seeing fewer cases of dengue now in the city after the rains. But I have directed all the health officers to make sure that garbage is regularly cleared, especially in the dengue-prone areas.”
While the commissioner claims that fogging and spraying is a continuous process and is done on a warfooting, the BBMP’s nodal officer (health care), Dr Sandhya, says it is done only in areas where there are confirmed cases of dengue.
“We are actually doing less of fogging as it is almost banned by the government due to fears that it causes cancer and respiratory problems.
Whenever we do fogging we make sure children are nowhere around,” she explains, however, regretting that many misconceptions come in the way of dealing with the disease in the city .
“People mistakenly believe that mosquitoes breed in dirty water when they actually breed in clean stagnant water. Many have money plants, which are a breeding ground for mosquitoes, in their homes.
People need to change the water frequently. Again in slums like Vidyaranyapura we see discarded coconut shells filed with water, which are a major breeding ground for mosquitoes,” she says.
While the BBMP claims it is distributing pamphlets among people on the precautions that needs to be taken, it has given no instructions to its health inspectors to bring leaks in the water and sanitary lines to the attention of BWSSB engineers to prevent large stagnant pools of water forming on city roads that make localities around vulnerable to outbreak of diseases like dengue.
Says Ms Binu Paul of Koramangala, who had dengue fever not too long ago, “There is no doubt that this trend will persist. There is a huge garbage dump right in front of my house.
People randomly come and throw garbage bags from their posh vehicles here. Besides, we haven’t seen the BBMP carry out a mosquito eradication programme for some time now.”
Another resident of Koramangala, Dibyahas B, agrees. “We don’t remember seeing any spraying or fogging being done here for a while now.
Though Koramangla seems like a very posh place, a lot of people here have come down with dengue,” he says.
Ask a BBMP official about these complaints and he assures, “Soon we will go around in autorickshaws and make announcements on loudspeakers to spread awareness about segregation of garbage as a precaution against dengue.”
