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Come the rains, come the scourge of dengue
With the onset of monsoonal rains last week came the scourge of dengue, with five schools forced to close over a death and 20
The gutters of Hanwella Rajasinghe National College being stripped and cleaned out. Pix by Athula Devapriya
confirmed cases among dozens of fever victims in Hanwella in the Colombo district. Students of Hanwella Rajasinghe National College, Pahatagama Roman Catholic Primary School, Maliyadeva Primary School, Mayadunne College and Walawwatte Junior School, arriving back to class after the New Year holidays, were sent back home by authorities following the death of a 22-year-old in the area.
Parents were asked to take part in clean-up programmes in the schools for two days before the institutions re-opened on Wednesday and Thursday, and some were annoyed by this call.
PHI Lakshman Rajapakse
“They want us, parents, to clean up schools. But how are we to clean gutters of high buildings? In any case, my children’s school already has more than 10 labourers employed by the state,” said W. Jayakody, whose children attend Hanwella Rajasinghe National College.
He also pointed out that there was an overgrown area bordering the school that had many natural mosquito breeding spots. “Authorities need to inspect those places as well,” he said. On Wednesday, labourers were seen removing the blocked gutters of the school’s main building while parents were engaged in cleaning and clearing the premises.
Hanwella residents complain that authorities have limited their inspections to housing areas while ignoring larger breeding places such as pineapple orchards, rubber estates and factories.“Public Health Inspectors (PHI)s come once in a while and give warnings and go. There are many dengue patients in the area and the authorities’ actions are inadequate,” said K. Ranjani, a resident. She added that the officers rarely inspected houses. Another resident said the Pradeshiya Sabha pointed the finger at residents while ignoring larger establishments.
“There was a place that collects glass bottles and water was collecting in these containers. The place was given a warning only after we complained recently,” said the resident, who did not wish to be named.
“There are many factories in the area,” he added. “And nearby rubber plantations have coconut shells for latex collection that retain water. There are also blocked canals and drains – some have polythene and plastic containers strewn in them that collect water,” he added.
Hanwella Medical Officer Dr. W. Wedisinghe
On Wednesday, a meeting was held at the Pradeshiya Sabha office attended by the Deputy Minister Geethanjana Gunewardena, the Western Province Health Minister Ranjith Somawansa, the Pradeshiya Sabha chairman, senior police officers, education directors, medical officers and public health officials and school principals. Hanwella Medical Officer Dr. W. Wedisinghe said while for the whole of last year there were 17 cases of dengue this year already the number of confirmed cases had exceeded that number, and a death had been recorded. He said there were seven health inspectors serving a population of 110,000.
One of the PHIs, Lakshman Rajapakse, said discarded containers thrown round by residents were the main breeding grounds for dengue. He said he had even warned the man who died of dengue that there were breeding sites in his house.
“During the April holidays many people went to their villages leaving their houses closed. We were unable to inspect them. This is the reason that led to an outbreak,” he said.The Principal of Pahatagama Roman Catholic Primary School Kitsiri Kotelawala, said Pradeshiya Sabha authorities had ignored repeated requests to either clean or divert the waste water drainage line that passed through the school grounds. Mr. Kotelawala said numerous small containers that retained water were lodged in the drain which had become blocked with such rubbish, causing waste water to stagnate and overflow. “When the outbreak was reported the PS sent two labourers to clean the drain. It was full of mosquito larvae,” he said.
The meeting held at the PS did not come up with a solution for the mosquito menace, with the authorities reportedly being defensive about their activities.Dengue has claimed 48 lives this year with more than 7,763 cases being reported by the end of the week.
Most of the cases were reported from the Colombo district with the city reporting 860 cases and its suburbs reporting 1,844.Western Province Health Director, Dr. Amal Harsha de Silva said a dengue rapid deployment unit has been established with 300 government officers ranging from medical officers to labourers to be deployed immediately in places of outbreak.
“This rapid deployment unit has been working in Dehiwala and now in Avissawella where there is a sudden increase in cases. Inspection of places, awareness campaigns, the issuing of warnings, fines, filing of cases and the conducting entomological surveillance will be done by the unit,” he added. He said the unit would also have PHIs solely dedicated to dengue control, with entomologists conducting mosquito larvae surveillance. Assistance will also come from the police environment unit and the military for dengue control programmes. “Under the Public Nuisance Ordinance the Western Province has now been given powers to taken legal action even against government authorities. This was brought as there have been increasing complaints on mosquitoes breeding in blocked canals, side drains and over poor waste management,” Dr. de Silva said.
Additional reporting and pix by Somasiri Hinguralaarachchi