The
Health Department has decided to appoint over 47 urban health
volunteers (UHVs) to contain the spread of dengue and other vector-borne
diseases in the district.

Chidambar, District Vector-Borne Diseases Officer, told The Hindu
on Sunday that over 47 urban health volunteers who have passed the
health inspectors’ course, will be recruited on a temporary basis and
deployed to three taluks where there is a high incidence of dengue and
other fever cases. The UHVs will be hired under the National health
mission. Initially, their services will be availed for three months from
July, he said.

The selection of UHVs will be over by Monday. They
will be given a three-day training. The UHVs will visit all the houses
in a locality and identify people suffering from fever for more than
three days. If there are large number of people suffering from fever for
more than three days, the UHVs will not only inform the higher ups in
the health department but also shift the people to the government
hospital nearby and sensitise the public about the disease, Mr.
Chidambar said. They will also conduct surveillance and search for
mosquito larvae in these localities. The UHVs will take steps to
eradicate mosquito breeding in the entire areas.

Of the 47 UHVs,
43 will be deployed in Mysuru city, two each will be deployed at Hunsuru
town and Nanjangudu where a large number of dengue suspected cases have
been reported of late. The department has already formed rapid response
teams and deployed them in many places like Mahadevapura in Mysuru
taluk to fight dengue. The Health Department is finding it hard to fight
dengue with the existing staff and hence took permission to deploy
UHVs.

Three more die

Meanwhile three more persons
died in fever-related incidents in Mysuru district in the past week.
With this total number of deaths owing to fever-related cases is 16. The
department has provided instructions to medical officers who had
treated the three deceased. Soon, the district death audit committee
would meet once more to assess the exact cause for the deaths,
Mr.Chidambar said.

Blood tests of over 2,080 people have been
conducted so far in the district in the past two and half months. Of
these, 347 were found to be dengue positive.