Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam has said that the government is going to bring an expert from India on Sunday to help control the present dengue situation. He said, “We have no lack of sincerity and honesty to control dengue, but we lack experience. In this regard, an expert from Kolkata deputy mayor’s office will come to share their experience and give instructions on controlling dengue.”
Atiqul Islam made the disclosure while replying to a query of journalists after an inter-ministerial meeting with two city corporation mayors and prominent doctors at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the capital on Thursday (August 8th). The DNCC mayor said, “I have sent an invitation letter to Anik Ghosh, who worked with Dengue in Kolkata. Anik Ghosh has promised to come to Bangladesh next Sunday (August 4).”
To the hospital authorities, he said, “Do not take extra fee from the dengue patients. You will charge according to the chart provided by the Department of Health. Keep all the patients under mosquito nets.” He also said, “The dengue is not a seasonal disease now. So, I think we should conduct research round the year. So, we should set-up a research center nationally.”
About the effectiveness of mosquito insecticide, the Mayor said, “We have tested the lot which came to the city corporation and found the medicine is ineffective. Then, we banned that medicine company and rejected the lot. City Corporation has not sprayed ineffective medicine, and is now spraying medicine from the next lot.”
He further said, “We have some challenges. Apart from killing mosquitoes, we have to protect the environment, which is a technical matter. We have three types of work now; short term, middle term and long term.” Meanwhile, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon has said that the authorities concerned are trying their best to control the dengue outbreak by early September.
“Efforts are on to prevent the mosquito-borne dengue disease, and we are trying our best to control the outbreak by the first week of September,” the mayor said. While talking to reporters at the health ministry, the DSCC mayor also said, “We already have freed several wards of Dhaka south city from dengue disease. The wards are – 14, 15, 18, 22, 23, 29, 35, 42, 55, 56." On the other hand, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader urged physicians to provide treatment to dengue patients at a token cost on humanitarian ground.
“We call upon doctors to provide treatment to dengue patients at a token amount of Tk 100. Many patients are not able to test their blood at Tk 500 or Tk 1,000,” he said while inaugurating a three-day cleanliness drive of Bangladesh Awami League in the city’s Dhanmondi area. “That’s why I request physicians to provide treatment to dengue patients on humanitarian ground at a token money or free of cost,” he added.
Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges Minister, said Aedes mosquito is not so powerful that the government could not prevent it. “Let us work together to prevent the mosquitoes. Action programme against mosquito is a challenge for us. Let’s make the programme a success,” he said. The AL general secretary said as per the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the authorities concerned have taken up stopping the dengue spread as a challenge.
Cleanliness drives will continue at city corporations, zila, upazila, union and ward levels across the country during the three-day drive aiming to combat dengue, he said. Quader urged people to clean up their homesteads and surroundings to prevent dengue spread. “We will conduct cleanliness drives both in cities and rural areas, involving common people,” he added.
Besides, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said, “We have managed to import some lakhs of dengue testing materials (kits). One lakh will come within this night (Thursday) and the rest will come within Friday.” He said this while speaking at a seminar in Mitford Hospital after coming from Malaysia. He said, “Dengue infected patients will go home on the occasion of Eid. The dengue incidences may rise during this time. So, we have canceled the official holiday of Eid of all concerned officials of health ministry to control the dengue situation.”