The National Committee on Prevention of Dengue and Other Mosquito-Borne Diseases met on January 17 and decided to implement 13 recommendations as part of the annual plan to control dengue. Who will implement these decisions is also determined from the meeting. It is said that if the decisions are implemented, the dengue situation in the whole country including the capital will be under control.

The reality is that not even a drop of those decisions have been implemented. Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has started the process of purchasing the things through the councilors through the awareness campaign. But there was no response from the city dwellers. On the other hand, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has recently been issuing small monetary fines to owners of establishments harboring Aedes mosquito larvae and mosquitoes through mobile courts outside of routine operations.

There is no news of dengue activities of other city corporations, municipalities and union councils in the country. However, experts say that the dengue risk is more than last year. Last year too, dengue patients and Aedes mosquitoes spread across the country.

Police in every area impounds cars almost every day due to accidents or various reasons. These cars are dumped day after day in or around the police station compound. Rainwater accumulates inside these and creates an excellent breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes.

The meeting of the National Dengue Prevention Committee decided that these cars should be covered with triple or plastic covers in such a way that no water can accumulate inside them. By visiting several police stations in the capital, no picture of the implementation of this directive was found.

In the dumping zone of Ramna police station, cars are piled one on top of the trees in a part of Suhrawardy Udyan. Triplets or tentacle moles do not exist there. The picture of dumping zones in other police stations is also the same.

Mosquito experts and members of the National Committee feel that the highest demand for Aedes mosquito control is to increase public awareness. For this, every city corporation and municipality will conduct regular campaigns by creating a separate Facebook page. However, no Facebook page information was found for anyone other than DNCC.

It was decided to regularly clean the courtyards and surroundings of all educational institutions in the country to control dengue. Schools, colleges and madrasas were closed from last 12 to 25 June. At that time the educational institutions were locked. Teachers-officers-employees were also absent in educational institutions. Not even a single day of cleaning was done in any of them.
The details of their activities to prevent mosquito-borne diseases from the district-upzilla and union level are to be sent to the local government department every month. But most of the union parishads, upazila parishads do not know this information.

FBCCI, the apex business body, was directed to carry out regular cleaning activities in the premises of all business establishments in the country to prevent dengue. No trader could report that FBCCI had taken any action. Institutions and organizations under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works have been told to conduct year-long cleaning operations in their premises, courtyards and surroundings. They are not even known to have carried out any activities.

Entomologist Dr. Indrani Dhar said, now it is raining, because of this the number of dengue patients will increase very quickly. We will see this picture by the middle of July. This would not have happened if the recommendations of the National Committee had been properly implemented.

For this, the task force should be formed and the implementation of these decisions should be started quickly. A separate surveillance team was constituted with 11 entomologists in 2010-11. Under them were surveyor teams. They will go door to door. This should be done as soon as possible. Students of third to eighth grade of the school have to give homework on dengue. Then children will tell their parents if there is any inconsistency. It will also create a new dengue aware generation. Also larviciding and adultisiting should be started vigorously.

There is no response to buying a packet of canned potato chips
DNCC has taken a novel initiative to buy such abandoned items for money – containers where mosquitoes can lay their eggs. They thought that if they were bought through the councillors, the townspeople would not leave them lying around. In the greed of money, the councilor will take it to the office and sell it to get cash. For this, the prices of various things were fixed. But the people of the city did not respond at all to this novel initiative to control dengue.

Councilor Matiur Rahman of DNCC ward number 16 (Kafrul and Ibrahimpur area) told Samakal, “They will not give advance money to buy a box shell, a packet of chips and a commode. It has not yet been decided how to pay.” And buy these or where we keep! It is not possible to go to the shops of tin shops and chips shops and buy these.

DNCC chief executive officer Mir Khairul Alam said, “Our dengue eradication program is going on.” It is being made aware that in neighborhoods, educational institutions, mosques and temples, water should not be stored for more than three days. One Magistrate is being appointed in each region for these supervision and operations. Allocations have already been made to purchase cans, chips packets through councillors. But these purchases are not getting public response. And now we are bringing BTI ourselves. The related activities with a Singaporean company are over. Now they will be given work order.

Dhaka South City Corporation Chief Health Officer Dr. Fazle Shamsul Kabir said, “Monsoon in dengue control activities

Instead of waiting for the season, I have started awareness in the neighborhood from the beginning of the year. The corporation has held meetings with all the government, semi-government and autonomous institutions of Dhaka. It has been asked to ensure that water does not accumulate anywhere in the residence. Before Eid, combing operation has been conducted in all hospitals and police stations of Dhaka. I will conduct a special campaign in educational institutions in a few days. We have no shortage of pesticides, machinery and manpower.

He said, “In June last year, the number of patients in South City was 1,713; But this year, the number of patients in the last 22 days is 62. So far we are in a good position. But there is no reason for complacency. If people are aware, we can control it. In the wards which are said to be risky in the survey of the Ministry of Health, we conducted a combing operation for four consecutive days. But we are not thinking of using BTI or any other new drug for mosquito control. We are giving importance to the destruction of the breeding source of dengue.

The number of patients outside Dhaka is double
This year, the number of patients admitted to hospital due to dengue has increased to 3,462. Among them, 1 thousand 271 patients are in Dhaka city. 2 thousand 291 people outside Dhaka. As such, the number of patients outside Dhaka has almost doubled. 42 people died of dengue this year. Among them, 31 died in Dhaka and 11 outside Dhaka.

Commentary of the Directorate
Director General of the Department of Health Professor Dr. Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam said that the number of dengue cases is still relatively less than last time. We have asked the hospitals to be ready in advance. Hopefully, there will be no errors in the treatment.