Indian Express 03.06.2010
Collect insects, study them: civic body drive to combat rain-related ailments
sharvaripatwa Tags : rain-related ailments research, mumbai Posted: Thu Jun 03 2010, 23:26 hrs
As many as 24 insect collectors, who have been trained by a team comprising the state government officials, will visit at least 8-10 areas and collect 10 samples a day. These samples will be tested in the BMC laboratory. The BMC has roped in state entamologists, zonal entamologists and a filaria official to train the collectors.
“This is the first time that such a large insect collectors’ force has been trained and delpoyed in the city,” said Anil Bamne, insecticide officer. The BMC has identified nine high risk wards and each of them has 10 spots from where samples can be collected. Of these, five are fixed spots and five others will be selected randomly.
Areas under the nine high-risk wards include Lower Parel, Worli, Elphinstone, Parel, Sewree, Wadala, Byculla, Mahim, Matunga, Sion, Bandra (W), Khar (W), Santacruz (W), Andheri (E), Malad and Kurla.
These high-risk wards will get utmost attention in terms of staff deployment and anti-malarial measures, said Bamne. “This way we can study the kinds of mosquitoes breeding in a particular area and gauge how harmful they are,” he said.
Meanwhile, the insect collectors are waiting for high-end insect collecting kits which will be provided by the state government, said civic official. These kits are expected to arrive within a week, he said.
The BMC has also filled 43 vacant posts of Junior Overseer Officers (JOO’s), who will identify and implement measures to tackle the disease. This is important as with the onset of monsoon there is a high risk of water-borne diseases being spread, said Anil Bamne. Meanwhile, the BMC is also planning to hold workshops for private medical practitioners in all wards from the next week.
Our focus will be mainly on the private medical practitioners who work in slum areas and lower income households, said additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar. These measures have been designed after two meetings with the state government officials over the past few weeks, said Mhaiskar. In 2009, around 70% of the deaths caused due to malaria had happened in Mumbai.
