With dengue cases assuming alarming proportions in Delhi, the city's municipal authority has decided to notify cases originating from neighbouring states to the civic bodies and health agencies there, and has also asked them take preventive actions at their end.
According to the Municipal Health Officer (MHO) of SDMC, N K Yadav, a meeting of municipal corporations of Delhi, and districts of other states neighbouring the capital, were held recently to discuss ways and measures to be taken up to curb the menace of the vector-borne disease.
As per South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which compiles the data for all civic bodies in Delhi, till August 29, at least 831 persons were diagnosed with dengue in the national capital.
"At the meeting held under the aegis of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), representatives of civic and health authorities from Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Sonepat, Noida, among other cities, besides Delhi were present," Yadav told PTI.
Out of 831 cases diagnosed in Delhi, 30 persons hailed from Uttar Pradesh and eight from Haryana, while 33 were from other states.
"Since, cases are coming from outside Delhi also, we decided to cross-notify these districts neighbouring Delhi, so that they can take effective mosquito-breeding control programme. We will also be mailing addresses of such patients diagnosed with dengue to civic authorities in their respective district.
"There are some border areas having contiguous residential zones, so we need simultaneous action on both sides," he added.
"On an average 40 cases occur every day...And if preventive actions are not take then the situation may become very serious," Yadav said, "We are however taking measures to check the spread of the disease."
The Health Department of Delhi Government said that the decision was also taken as hospitals in the city are overflowing with dengue patients and some private hospitals running at 100 per cent occupancy.
"This would help the authorities in the neighbouring districts to upgrade medical infrastructure and enhance diagnostic facilities to combat dengue.
"Now the time for prevention is gone. Management of the dengue cases and control of fever is the need of the hour," a senior Health Department official told PTI.
