The Pioneer  24.08.2010

Gaur asks commissioner to start cleanliness drive

Staff Reporter | Bhopal

In view of the looming threats from swine flu and malaria, the Urban Administration and Development Minister Babulal Gaur has directed the Urban Administration Department Commissioner SM Mishra to start cleanliness and public awareness campaign by the urban bodies. The Commissioner immediately issued instructions to all the municipal commissioners and chief municipal officers of the urban bodies to start the campaign.

Gaur has given this instruction at a meeting held here on Monday. Mayor Krishna Gaur, Divisional Commissioner Manoj Shrivastava, Bhopal Municipal Corporation Commissioner Manish Singh and other departmental officers were present.

Gaur said that cleaning campaign should be started in urban bodies and this should be regularly monitored. The urban bodies should appeal to the people not to allow water collect in pits and if water is collected they should spray kerosene or insecticides so that mosquitoes dont grow there. The residents should regularly clean and keep changing water of the coolers or if the coolers are not in use, drain the water from them so that mosquito is not grown in them.

Water tank, if any at home, should be kept closed. The residents are also advised to regularly spray anti-mosquito insecticide regularly at home and use mosquito net at night to escape from the menace of mosquitoes. The easy and traditional way to drive mosquitoes away from home is to burn leaves of Neem tree in the evening and allows the smoke spread in the rooms.

The Urban Administration Minister has also issued instructions to the urban bodies that they should run fogging machines in the evening in the residential colonies and markets. Gaur appealed the people that as far as possible they should drink water after boiling it thoroughly and cooling to escape from the water-borne diseases during the rainy season.

The Deccan Chronicle  24.08.2010

Aug 23: This may come as a rude shock to those who felt that public health was a top priority in a city which is fast emerging as a health destination for patients from overseas.

According to official sources, the state health department has only one qualified public health expert, and he too has not been given the portfolio he is most suited for.

“Public health experts can forecast an epidemic and know what exactly is to be done to control the spread of a disease. But just a day after the Chief Minister took stock of the diseases hitting the state along with the health minister, a video conference was organised by the authorities of all 30 districts,and ironically there was not even one public health expert present to give his take on it,” says an officer, pointing out that although the government may have good intentions to control the spread of diseases, this cannot be done as long as it does not have technically qualified people to assist it in handling the problem.

When contacted joint director, communicable disease, department of health and welfare Dr T.S. Cheluvaraj said he was not aware of any shortage of health staff, adding in a hurry: “I am in Delhi now, attending a meeting.” The BBMP for its part, says it has its own team of 20 public health experts. “All our health officers are experts in public health,” says BBMP chief health officer, Dr LT Gayathri, claiming that all the civic agency's health officers have a diploma in public health in addition to their MBBS degrees.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru is getting feverish. A sharp rise in cases of viral fever in the city has even prompted some IT companies to advise their employees to work from home if they are down with it.