The Colombo Municipal Council’s (CMC) Public Health Department launched its annual Green-Star-Home programme yesterday to prevent a dengue outbreak in the city, with the onset of the rainy season.
The programme, the tenth of its kind, will cover almost all residences and institutions in the city and officials will carry out inspections and Green Star stickers will be issued to residences and institutions that have no mosquito-breeding sites.
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| The CMC launched its Green Star Home Programme yesterday at a Town Hall ceremony attended, among others, by children and residents from Colombo. |
In November 2003, the Green Star Programme won a Gold medal at the International Green Apple Awards competition held at the House of Commons in Britain.
“Dengue usually spreads during the rainy seasons from May to July and from November to February. Unfortunately, some residents in Colombo, especially those in posh residential areas seldom co-oporate. We are not even allowed to inspect their gardens,” CMC chief medical officer Pradeep Kariyawasam complained.
He said they would keep a record of the inspected premises at the MOH office and those places in need of cleaning up would be repeatedly visited, until they could be certified as mosquito-free. Legal action would be taken against repeated offenders.
“Residents are encouraged to have street committees and apartment committees. Institutions are also requested to form dengue prevention committees and work to a plan during the oncoming rainy season,” he said.
Dr. Kariyawasam said this year dengue cases had seen a 100 percent increase with 585 cases being reported since January, whereas last year during the same period there were around 250-300 cases.
“Six deaths too have been reported for this year with 85 percent of them being under 20 years old,” he said warning that unless preventive steps were taken there would be a drastic increase in the number of cases. |
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