Places with high footfall found to be mosquito breeding grounds
HT is in possession of a list of 14 city hospitals and maternity houses that have been sent notices by the PMC over the issue of mosquitoes breeding on hospital premises
PUNE: Places with high footfalls such as malls, multiplexes and hospitals need to aggressively ensure that there is no stagnant water on their premises as many of these places have become breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes.
Suspected dengue cases in the city have been constantly rising with a total of 706 cases registered in the city since January this year.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) health department recently sent notices to 34 PMC-run hospitals, maternity homes and dispensaries after dengue mosquito breeding was found on their premises.
The most prominent among these civic hospitals were the Naidu Infectious Disease hospital, Aundh Kuti hospital, Rajiv Gandhi hospital (Yerawada), Hingane hospital (Karvenagar), Rohidas Kirad hospital (Guruwar Peth), Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar hospital (Ganesh Peth), Mahadev Nimhan hospital (Bhavani Peth), Baburao Shewale Aundh hospital (Pashan), Gadgil hospital (Dattawadi), Vitthalrao Shivarkar hospital (Wanwadi), Meena Tai Thakre hospital and maternity home among others.
The PMC also sent notices to prominent malls and multiplexes in the city such as Ishanya, Dorabjee, Phoenix, Inorbit and Inox, among others after finding dengue mosquito breeding spots on their premises, officials said.
“Places where mosquito breeding is mostly found includes ducts, pots of plants, waste garbage bins, scrapped items lying around, plastic containers, plastic water tanks, barrels which have water, paper and terraces with water accumulation among others,” a civic official said.
They added that stagnant water in any container in any place must not be allowed. The mosquito breeding takes place if water is kept stagnant for about seven days.
The PMC survey was done for mosquitoes like Anopheles which can cause malaria, Aedes Aegypti which is a vector for zika, chikungunya and dengue and Culex which causes encephalitis.
Kalpana Baliwant, head of the insect control department at PMC, said that so far notices have been issued to various malls, hospitals, housing societies, multiplexes among others, “After issuing a notice, random checking is done after 10-15 days and if mosquito breeding is found, a fine is levied or a legal case is filed,” she said.