CUNCOLIM: In view of the dengue scare that hit Cutbona on Thursday, the Health Department team visited the affected village on Friday and conducted an awareness programme among the villagers on waterborne diseases, such as, malaria and dengue.
Locals confronted the health team for allowing the outbreak of dengue. The villagers also criticised the health team for not screening all the labourers of the fishing industry. The locals lamented that though the current fishing season is coming to an end, the health department had screened only 150 workers, even though the industry employs around 6,000 workers.
According to the locals, the cause of dengue is non-screening of migrant labourers, unhygienic conditions at the jetty and the poor living conditions of the labourers.
When asked whether the four persons who have been admitted in hospital for suspected dengue, have been confirmed to be suffering from the fever, the health officials said that the confirmations would come only after the patients undergo the ELISA test.
When pressed, the health officials said the confirmation could be come in two days and that if the test is positive, then the health department would step up the fogging exercise and other measures to destroy the breeding sites of mosquitoes and to kill the larvae to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
Velim MLA Benjamin Silva, addressing the media at Cutbona, said he would ask the fisheries and health departments to take a serious note of the outbreak of dengue.
He said the authorities concerned should find out why dengue has been recurring for the last few years. “We must find the root cause of this outbreak,” he said, adding that meetings had been held in the past at the collector’s office with the health department on this issue.
Meanwhile, the Velim sarpanch has said that fearing outbreak of the disease, the locals have asked both the fisheries and the health departments to take serious measures to prevent and tackle dengue outbreak.
