Daily News Editorial

The war against dengue

15 December 2016

Dengue is back with all its virulence, 10 districts already hit with a vengeance and the authorities are desperately battling to keep the epidemic at manageable levels. The Health Ministry has got into panic mode. Fumigation is being carried out in high risk locales. A list of dos and don'ts has been issued by the Health Ministry to be followed by suspected dengue victims. The leave of all health workers attached to 30 high risk MOH divisions have been cancelled to face the rapidly increasing dengue threat. Already the epidemic has claimed the lives of 77 persons and 47,900 dengue cases have been reported from all parts of the country.

For years, there have been all kinds of warnings issued and precautions announced and anti-dengue drives carried out in earnest, but we are all back to square one when the epidemic is upon us without warning. It is time that the health authorities got back to the drawing board and map out a definitive plan to contain the epidemic on a long term basis.

Typically, Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has once again issued dire warnings, with a suggestion to increase the fine for ‘mosquito breeders’ to Rs. 25,000. Let us all hope that this time around the culprits will heed the warning seriously and rid their surroundings of mosquito breeding spots.

The household premises are not the only ones that needs cleaning up. Today, certain government institutions too are guilty of contributing to the epidemic in no small measure. Certain Local Council buildings have gone to seed following their dissolution, with little or no attention being paid to their proper maintenance. Signs of neglect, such as broken gutters, stagnant drains etc. are a common site. Sloppy garbage collection and in fact problems connected to garbage disposal too have worsened things. The construction boom witnessed over the decades has also brought in its wake the ideal grounds for mosquitoes breeding. Half complete structures, partially finished buildings, idle concrete edifices etc. have turned out to be havens for trillions of dengue larvae. In addition, polluted canals and waterways that snake through the many tenements in the city and the suburbs, needless to say has compounded, nay, magnified the problem.

Not only that, rambling, unoccupied homes and premises, abandoned land and property that have gradually being reclaimed by the shrub and jungle have also provided uninterrupted breeding grounds for the dengue mosquitoes. This scenario is mostly witnessed in the coconut belt where trees have been felled haphazardly creating nooks and crannies for mosquito breeding.

The Health Ministry authorities should take a holistic view of the whole problem and attack it at the core, instead of resorting to piecemeal solutions, such as getting PHIs accompanied by members of the security forces to visit household premises only, to rid the dengue menace. Whatever happened to the Presidential Task Force on Dengue, set up by the former President, and in which the incumbent President too was heavily involved, as the then Health Minister? Is the Task Force going into action only when things have aggravated?

A yearlong sustained campaign should be carried out if we are to tackle the epidemic, at least to a manageable degree, if not eradicate it in toto. What has been happening is that once the initial alarm passes and the crisis is temporarily seen through everyone lets down their guard and becomes complacent, letting the problem grow under their feet. All segments should be co-opted, schools, temples, other places or religious worship, government departments etc. if the anti-dengue drive is to be carried out to a successful end. Deterrent punishment should be served on those contributing to the breeding of dengue- possibly a prison term. What is at stake is the lives of the people.

All's well that ends well

Well, saner counsel has prevailed and the Christmas Tree project, which was abandoned following certain observations made by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, is back on track. The Cardinal's remarks may have been grounded on the reality that the Christmas Tree has no relevance to Christmas proper, which has a profound message to all mankind. Well, millions are being thrown lavishly for Christmas parties, musical and dance events during the Christmas season, particularly by the Five Star hotels in the city. The corporate sector also doles out very expensive hampers to its clients and others. There is also a lot of merriment and gaiety during this period when the poor and the needy are hardly ever given thought to. Hence it won't make a big difference whether or not the largest ever Christmas Tree is erected or not in this country. Christmas will continue to be celebrated in the same grand way in Sri Lanka and the world over.