mangalore today

Health official says malaria cases at peak - action plans to be ready soon MCC


Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Aug 8, 2014:  Speaking to media, Mangalore City Corporation in-charge Commissioner Gokuldas Nayak said  Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) will come up with an action plan by this month to create awareness on malaria and for the control of malaria. A series of meetings have been held in this regard.


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He also stated, soon  along with officials of the MCC and health department, the medical colleges, colleges of social work, corporate offices and also builders will involve themselves in creating awareness on malaria. The implementing, monitoring and supervising authority will be the part of the action plan.


A core committee is being formed with Mangalore City Corporation Mayor as its president. NGO representatives, builders, contractors, representatives of social work institutions, health department staff and the community medicine department staff of medical colleges. 

The action plan will see  teams formed at zonal levels to include members  who will carry out awareness activities. A zone will comprise of 5-6 wards. Software will be developed for the reporting system  to allow for collection of data from sites, including the photos of the mosquito breeding places.  Nayak said that the implementation of the action plan will be given utmost importance since there is a high possibility of malaria cases with the receding rains as water would be stagnant during the period.


As a part of strategy  to the control of malaria, information has been disseminated to the builders towards breeding source reduction at the construction sites and the penalty has also been increased for violators, the commissioner in-charge said. Meanwhile, MCC official said that measures are being taken towards the prevention of malaria in corporation limits. Regular surveys and site visits are being done, sample from the infected people are collected and further treatment is being provided to them in city health centres after laboratory investigations. Mosquito larvae are being destroyed. Two teams have been deployed to carry out biological control through the release of guppy fishes into the sources of water, he said.


As per the official information, 4,000 confirmed cases of malaria have been reported in the city corporation limits during the period between January and July. In July alone, there have been 1,500 reported cases.


District Health Officer Dr H S Shivkumar said that there have been around 5,000 reported cases of malaria in the district, from January to July this year and a marginal increase of 2 to 3 per cent is found as against the corresponding period last year.   The industrial sites, migrant families and construction sites contribute in large extent to the spread of malaria, he said and added that there have been two deaths due to malaria so far this year.