Times of India
10 September 2009
By Umesh Isalkar
Pune, India

194 Confirmed In PCMC Till August, PMC Has 33 Cases
While the city is leading in H1N1 flu cases in the state, its position in dengue fever is also getting equally grim everyday. There is a marked increase in the number of confirmed cases – from 170 registered cases till August last year to 273 up to August this year. Notably, of the 273 cases, as many as 194 cases have been registered within the limits of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

Taking a dig at the failure of the PCMC in controlling the dengue cases in Pimpri-Chinchwad, R S Sharma, joint director of the National Vector-Borne Diseases Control Programme, New Delhi, said: “There is process called ‘source reduction method’ by which any dengue outbreak can be controlled within ten days with exhaustive surveillance. In our review meeting in Pune last month, we have asked the PCMC to employ 250 field workers to arrest the growth cycle of mosquitoes to bring down the number of cases. If they had done that the dengue cases would have definitely come down.”

Admitting that the civic body has been asked to deploy 250 field workers, PCMC medical director Rajshekhar Iyer said: “At present, the PCMC has deployed 47 field workers. However, he added that the PCMC has not been given the ‘urban malaria scheme’, under which the corporation would have a full-fledged unit for prevention and control of malaria. “Since the scheme has not been extended, we do not have the infrastructure to control vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue.’’

Meanwhile, head of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) insect control department Sadashiv Patole said: “We have 250 workers in to check the breeding spots of dengue mosquitoes. Besides, we have a list of such breeding sites. We are taking all precautions to arrest the growth cycle of the mosquitoes. We have also given our field workers to the PCMC.”

The PMC has registered 33 dengue cases till August this year, Patole said. However, as per the data given by a city laboratory, over 200 people were diagnosed with dengue between June and September this year. “We have screened over 300 patients, of which 200 were confirmed dengue cases,” said Ajit Golwilkar, managing director of Golwilkar Metropolis Health Services Pvt Ltd.

Meanwhile, state entomologist A S Bhosale said, “There is water scarcity all over the state, which leads to water storage. Larvae of dengue mosquitoes grow in clean water.”

As many as 16 sentinel centres for diagnosis of dengue were set up in the state last year. That’s why more cases are being detected, he added.

Citizens should not leave stagnant water for more than a few days in and around their houses as it breeds the aedes aegypti mosquito, vector for the dengue fever, said Patole.

As many as 16 sentinel centres for diagnosis of dengue were set up in the state last year.