With a spike in Chikungunya and Dengue cases in Delhi, the Centre today asked the South Delhi Municipal Corporation to compile a report of such cases while asking the state government to include modality of treatment for the diseases in its awareness campaigns.
The Union Health Ministry also said that Principal Secretary in Delhi government's health department will be the nodal person for monitoring and overall coordination of implementation of the programme for prevention and control of Dengue and Chikungunya in the national capital.
Union Health secretary C K Mishra held a meeting with officials of various agencies, including Delhi government and MCD, to review preparedness of various agencies to prevent and manage Chikungunya and Dengue in the national capital.
Officials of the Health Ministry admitted that in Delhi the cases of Chikungynya have been higher than Dengue.
The Ministry is also learnt to have asked the government hospitals in Delhi to clean their premises and ensure that stagnant water is not lying by August 26 to prevent breeding of mosquitos.
"The Health Secretary directed the officials for strengthening vector control and surveillance, SDMC to collect and compile the report and share with National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), modality of treatment of Chikungunya also to be included in the IEC campaign...
"...Emphasizing domiciliary care to sensitise the community and Principal Secretary (Health), Delhi government will be the nodal person for monitoring and overall coordination of implementation of the programme for prevention and control of Dengue and Chikungunya in Delhi," an official statement said.
During the meeting, Mishra was told that the recent upsurge in the Chikungunya cases in Delhi is attributable to non immune population, as number of cases of Chikungunya was comparatively less in the previous years.
Abundance of vector mosquito, construction activities, water storage practice, increased mobility of population and human behaviour have also added to its transmission, officials said.
A senior Health Ministry official has said that while there have been around 600 cases of Chikungunya cases in Delhi, over hundred cases of Dengue have been reported.
Officials attributed the outbreak of Chikungunya to shorter incubation period in mosquitoes as compared to Dengue.
In Delhi, 362 samples taken between July 1 and Aug 20 this
year have tested positive of Chikungunya while there have been 311 reported cases of Dengue, claiming the lives of four people this season.
However, the city's municipal body has acknowledged only two Dengue deaths.
The Centre has already requested all the state and UT governments to declare Dengue as notifiable disease for improving reporting and for taking preventive measures in the affected areas .
A senior Health Ministry official said that three states - Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal - had reported high levels of Dengue. They said that the situation is critical in West Bengal as it has reported a lot of Dengue deaths.
"Health secretary urged the municipal bodies and Delhi government officials to be alert over the next two months and to gear up activities and measures to be taken for awareness generation, prevention and control of Chikungunya so as to effectively address the situation, and not allow it to escalate," the statement said.
Delhi government officials who took part in the meeting said that special awareness programmes, including rallies, were being held in schools to educate children about Dengue.
"The good thing is Chikungunya does not require any hospitalisation and its need is very rare," a senior official said.
The government has initiated several awareness programmes through print and electronic media and issued advertisements for controlling these diseases, officials said.
Mobile App "India Fights Dengue" was also launched by Health Minister J P Nadda recently, they added.
