3,356 test positive for malaria in city

Cutting across party lines, corporators slammed the civic health department for inefficiency in controlling the spread of malaria.

Cutting across party lines, corporators slammed the civic health department for inefficiency in controlling the spread of malaria.

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In the last 20 days, out of 40,105 people examined 3,356 have tested positive for malaria, according to data given by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Rajhans Singh, Congress corporator, said that the BMC health department was not doing enough to curb the spread of the disease.

“Malaria prevention techniques have taken a beating as the staff of the health department was engaged in census duty,” said Upendra Doshi, Congress corporator.

Doshi said the BMC should consider taking help from the private practioners of each ward to curb the menace. BJP corporator Yogesh Sagar said the BMC must suspend pest control officers of a ward if larvae breeding sites are found in that ward. “Until the civic body doesn't fix responsibility of its employees, it will not be able to control this problem,” said Sagar.

He added that civic medical officers are not fogging under construction sites marked as high-risk zones as there are water puddles and tanks around which act as breeding zones for mosquitoes.

Labourers working at one site carry the malaria virus with them, when they migrate to other sites, observed the BMC.

“I checked with the supervisor of the construction site next to my building and he told me that fogging has not been carried out,” said Sagar. Additional Municipal Commissioner, Ashish Kumar Singh, said the BMC was fogging larvae breeding sites every ten days and conducting health camps.