Gurgaon residents cycle 10km to raise dengue awareness

The ‘cyclothon’ to raise awareness about dengue was flagged off by Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar

Over 100 people participated in a 10km ‘cyclothon’ flagged off at Medanta, the Medicity hospital in Sector 38 by police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar to raise awareness about dengue.

Police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar (in white shirt) cycles along with private doctors, as part of the event. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

To make people understand the dos and don’ts of stopping mosquito breeding, a street play was also organised on prevention and precautions to be taken against dengue.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are around 190 million cases of dengue worldwide. “Though there are no confirmed cases of dengue this year so far, we (civic bodies) are on alert as cases are expected to rise due to the onset of monsoon. Awareness is the key to prevent dengue,” said Khirwar.

Dr Asruddin, chief medical officer, MCG, said, “We are taking preventive measures and mapping out hot spots where we will initiate fogging in case of emergency.”

Cyclists in the event covered Bakhtawar Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Rajiv Chowk and Civil Lines and went till Police lines.

People from all age groups had registered for the event to raise awareness through ‘Mission Stop Dengue’ initiated by the hospital last year in association with over 80,000 students of Gurgaon, Jhajjar, Manesar, Faridabad and Delhi-NCR.

Speaking about the initiative, Dr Sushila Kataria, director, department of Internal Medicine, Medanta, said, “We believe together we can make Gurgaon a dengue-free city.”