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Dengue prevention: Keep your garbage out today for CMC to collect
View(s):Colombo residents are requested to leave all their garbage and discarded items and materials outside their homes, gardens and offices for the Colombo Municipal Council to collect today. The collection is part of the CMC’s ongoing mosquito eradication programme.
“Dengue cases are escalating, and there have been scattered rains, especially in the Western province, which could leave accumulated rainwater that would encourage mosquito breeding,” Colombo Mayor A. J. M. Muzammil told the Sunday Times.
Mosquitoes typically breed in containers that collect rainwater, he said. Discarded plastic containers, plastic paper bags, tyres, coconut shells and king coconut halves provide ideal breeding opportunities. Blocked drains and clogged gutters are other typical mosquito breeding spots.
A taskforce of 500 CMC workers will be deployed to clean drains and collect garbage and discarded items. Between January and March this year, there were 10 dengue deaths and 1,078 dengue-related cases in the Colombo area. Last year, there were 30 deaths and 3,224 cases of dengue-related illness.
Colombo Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said the dengue eradication programmes will continue till the end of the year. “We have inspected 14,000 houses so far since national dengue control month was launched on June 24 ,” he said.
During last week’s inspection, 59 persons in Colombo were charged with encouraging mosquito breeding by failing to maintain clean premises. Legal action will follow.
In the first three months of this year, the Public Health Inspectors’ Association took legal action against 4,456 persons.
During last Sunday’s inspection, the Police Environment Protection Unit charged 53 persons in the Colombo municipal area for encouraging breeding through negligence.
The Ministry of Defence is deploying 10,000 military and police personnel in an islandwide inspection and cleaning programme during national dengue control month.
The managers of three state-owned premises in the Ratmalana, Mount Lavinia and Dehiwala areas were ordered to pay fines for failing to maintain their premises. Fines of Rs. 20,000 were imposed on the Ratmalana Railway Station; Rs. 10,000 on the Ratmalana SLTB bus depot, and Rs. 5,000 on the Ratmalana Water Board. The fines were imposed by Mt. Lavinia Additional Magistrate Ruchira Weliwatte.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Heath is conducting awareness programmes and running cleaning programmes at government institutions.
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