The Hindu 08.07.2016
Domestic breeding checkers to take up mosquito control steps
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Vector-control awareness:K.S.T. Suresh, Deputy Director of Health
Services, Vellore, addressing a training programme on Thursday. (Below)
Samples of larvae kept at the programme.— Photos: C. Venkatachalapathy -
Workers to visit hotspots where fever, dengue cases were reported
Starting Friday, 745 domestic breeding checkers will be
engaged to control mosquito breeding in the Vellore Health Unit Division
(HUD). They will cover areas at the block-level, town panchayats,
municipalities and Vellore Corporation.
K.S.T.
Suresh, Deputy Director of Health Services, Vellore HUD, said 10
mazdoors had been allotted to each block and town panchayat.
“There
are a total of 745 domestic breeding checkers, including for Vellore
Corporation and municipalities. They will start the mosquito control
work from Friday. We are planning to add at least 10 more mazdoors for
each block,” he said.
On Thursday, the Department of
Public Health, Vellore, conducted an orientation programme for domestic
breeding checkers. “We explained the lifecycle of a mosquito and how
breeding sources should be destroyed. We also demonstrated how Abate
solution should be prepared according to the level of water in a
container and how to operate fogging machines,” Mr. Suresh said.
The
workers would visit areas, particularly hotspots that have earlier
recorded fever cases or dengue, to take up control measures. “In such
hotspot villages, one worker would cover a minimum of 50 houses a day.
They would also cover areas where fever cases have been reported. They
would destroy mosquito breeding sources, undertake fogging, take up mass
cleaning measures along with local body workers and water
chlorination,” Mr. Suresh said.
The workers would
take up fogging measures too. There are 200 mini fogging machines and
150 pulse fogging machines that are hand-held in Vellore HUD, besides
one vehicle-mounted fogging machine.
Through an
exhibition, the workers got familiarised with various mosquito-breeding
sources such as waste broken pots and unused tyres. “We have asked them
to remove such unused articles in and around houses. So, when it rains,
the larval density will be low and mosquito density will also reduce,”
he added.
The workers would also ask residents to
scrub and wash water containers once a week. For this, households would
be provided with bleaching powder, the official said.