Delhi CM Kejriwal chalks out anti-dengue action plan

New Delhi [India], September 24 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday presided over a high-level meeting with senior officials from all concerned departments, including the health department, to discuss the rising number of dengue cases.
The meeting was attended by top officers and Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDM) from all related departments, in addition to the Chief Secretary.
During the meeting, a discussion took place over the implementation of necessary actions to control the rising number of dengue cases as soon as possible. The officials informed the Chief Minister about the measures being implemented to avoid dengue cases and raise public awareness.
"Usually it does not rain at this time, yet we are seeing rains right now. As a result, the potential of a rise in dengue cases in the coming days has grown," Kejriwal said at the meeting.
CM Kejriwal spoke with officials to explore ways to intensify the efforts to combat the rising number of dengue cases. The CM directed all the concerned departments to work unitedly by establishing harmony among themselves.
The officials said that along with making people aware, the compliance of the guidelines is being checked from door to door. People are being instructed on how to prevent the spread of dengue fever. Where there is negligence in compliance with the guidelines, challans are also being issued.
According to Delhi government statement, it has been determined that school children will be involved in the awareness campaign. Children in schools will be assigned special homework. Through this, the children will be requested to inspect their homes to ensure that there is no water stagnation.
Chief Kejriwal further asked all government officials to keep an eye out for dengue. The officials have been instructed to examine their offices every day to see if there is any standing water where dengue mosquitoes can breed. Such locations have been instructed to be inspected and cleaned immediately.
Water logging occurs at construction sites as well, and occasionally employees do not pay attention to it, allowing dengue mosquitoes to breed and workers to become infected. In light of this, directives have been issued to all building sites requiring contractors to ensure that water does not stagnate on their sites or around them or if water becomes stagnant, then they must clear it or add kerosene or any other oil to prevent mosquito breeding, said the statement.
All resident welfare associations (RWA) have been asked to go door-to-door in their respective areas to raise awareness and encourage people to follow the recommendations in order to protect their families from dengue.
The statement said the DMs, SDMs, Tehsildars and other officers would visit their respective districts to carefully enforce the dengue prevention programmes. During the meeting, CM directed the employees to rigorously adhere to the dengue prevention measures. Every Saturday, officials will inspect construction sites and hospitals where there is a high likelihood of water logging and will take appropriate measures if the recommendations are not followed by those responsible.
In this context, orders have been issued to not allow any form of negligence in hospitals. As the breeding of dengue mosquitoes on hospital grounds may result in patients and family members becoming infected with the disease.
The Delhi Government has also appealed to the people, saying that if the entire city banded together to fight dengue, the disease could be easily avoided. An appeal for maximum collaboration will also be sent out through a public awareness campaign.
He directed the officials to ensure the compliance of all the guidelines by visiting the construction sites every Saturday. At the same time he also said that to make the ongoing awareness campaign against dengue successful, the cooperation of stakeholders like school children, RWAs, construction site workers should also be sought among others.
As part of the action plan against dengue, 35 hospitals have been identified for early diagnosis and supportive treatment. Case-based monitoring and quick response is being done by the departments. Further, vector management is being done by the departments, in which larval source management and fogging are being done.
Monitoring, supervision and evaluation are being done at all levels by various organisations. Coordination and partnership between various departments of the Delhi government are being ensured.