THOUGH HUNDREDS of people inflicted with high fever have turned up at the outdoor patient department of the LLR Hospital in the last two months and dozens of them were diagnosed with malaria, the Urban Malaria Department with a strength of 476 employees is clueless as to where they should conduct the fogging in the city.
The department is also oblivious of the ways to contain the threat of mosquito-borne diseases in summer and pass the buck by saying that fogging is primarily the responsibility of the Kanpur Nagar Nigam (KNN).
Interestingly, according to the department records, there were no cases of malaria in the city since January.
The department was formed to control mosquito-borne diseases, including encephalitis and filarial, besides malaria and came into being in early 80s. The department is headed by urban malaria officer with 12 insect collectors and 12 inspectors, 340 field workers and 110 superior field workers, besides two drivers.
With mosquito population rising day by day, the department with such huge staff strength has failed to identify a single locality in the city to conduct the fogging and waiting for the outbreak of the disease.
Most patients, who turned up at LLR Hospital for treatment, belonged to areas like Jajmau, Lalbangla and Naubasta and outskirt localities of the city, which are prone to mosquito-borne diseases.
{{/usCountry}}Most patients, who turned up at LLR Hospital for treatment, belonged to areas like Jajmau, Lalbangla and Naubasta and outskirt localities of the city, which are prone to mosquito-borne diseases.
{{/usCountry}}It seems that services of the Urban Malaria Department’s employees are best utilised for conducting national programmes like Pulse Polio drive and others. A deputy CMO said, “The Urban Malaria Department employees are bitten by “inactive parasite”, so we take their services when there is shortage of staff in conducting national programmes.”
Talking to HT, urban malaria officer Dr SC Pathak said, “Our department conducts only anti-larva fogging, provided if there are cases of malaria in the city. The responsibility for fogging city areas is primarily of KNN.”