TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: Screening of migrant workers employed on fishing vessels operating from the Cutbona fishing jetty, besides sanitation amenities have come to the fore following the outbreak of dengue at Cutbona, with one more person testing positive for dengue fever.
Cutbona fishing jetty is home to around 5,000-6,000 migrant labourers, mostly hailing from the endemic states of Odisha and Jharkhand. Questions are being raised whether the health officials have put in place a system whereby migrant workers automatically undergo health check-up no sooner they land at the fishing jetty.
Herald inquiries with the Balli Primary Health Centre, which has jurisdiction over Cutbona area, revealed that there’s no system in place to check blood samples of migrant workers, though they admit that these are also required to undergo health screening.
When contacted, Dr Vijaya initially said it’s not possible to screen the migrant workers given that they are on board the vessels most of the time, but hastened to add that the health centre had in the past carried out the screening.
Velim Sarpanch Melvyn Sanches was of the firm opinion that each and every worker descending on the Cutbona fishing jetty should undergo health check-up before they are employed on the vessels. “These workers come from highly endemic states such as Jharkhand and Odisha and they should undergo the screening no sooner they report at the jetty”, Sanches said, while saying that the panchayat had in the past written letters and sent reminders to the health officials to screen the migrant labourers.
President of Cutbona Boat Owners Union Seby Cardozo said boat owners have no objection to the screening of the workers. “We have no problem with the screening of our workers by the health officials. In fact, the Union suo moto had asked the health centre to hold a health check-up camp for workers”, Seby said. He, however, does not believe that the dengue cases at Cutbona have anything do with the jetty or the migrant labour.
The migrant labourers, however, have no sanitation and bathing facilities worth its names in and around the jetty. Government’s plan to tone up sanitation facilities by setting up 50 toilets at the jetty is yet to take off
till date.
