GVMC to take preventive measures to curb the cases of seasonal fevers

As the monsoon season is here, the time has come when mosquito driven seasonal fevers may spread amongst people. One vulnerable place for these water-borne diseases to aggravate are people’s homes. There are many little things at home like a pot stagnated with wastewater, that could lead to malaria, dengue or viral fevers at home. To avoid such diseases, the District Officials have been taking up preventive measures in the city. On this, Visakhapatnam District Collector, Dr A Mallikarjuna IAS, conducted a review meeting with GVMC officials on Wednesday and was briefed about the measures being taken against seasonal fevers in the city. All the medical teams were told to spread awareness programmes, stick banners/ posters over the seasonal diseases.

Dr Mallikarjuna also asked the sachivalayam staff, health staff, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), ASHA workers, and health volunteers to form teams and inspect houses in their locality. They were told to identify mosquito breeding places and destroy them immediately. Each medical officer, from the Primary Health Centres, was told to keep a target on checking 10 to 15 houses in a day and monitor anti-larval activities.

According to the reports, there has been continuous reporting of viral fever cases in the last few weeks. The public, and private, hospitals have reported around 110 fever cases including malaria and dengue from April to August 2021. Results for another 23 suspected fever cases are yet to be given.

Speaking about the risk of seasonal fevers, GVMC Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr KSLG Sastry, said “We are conducting fever surveys in every household through the medical teams and volunteers. Till today, fever surgery was conducted in a total of 1,09,066 houses. If any cases of malaria and dengue are reported in an area, spraying will be conducted within 200 metres at the affected area. Currently, the fever cases in the city are said to be normal and we are taking measures to see that the cases do not go high.” Along with this, the officials are conducting Dry Day every Friday, asking citizens to keep their premises clean. Sanitary inspectors are told to visit the concerned areas every morning to identify mosquito breeding points and make the households themselves destroy them.

Things to do:

#1 Change water from coolers and other small containers at least once a week

#2 Do not wear clothes that expose arms and legs, especially in the evenings and at parks

#3 Children should not be allowed to play in shorts and half sleeved clothes

#4 Use mosquito nets or mosquito repellents while sleeping

#5 Avoid stagnated water points at home. Example water in areas surrounding plant pots (or plates bearing them), in empty coconuts and waster containers.

#6 Only drink filtered/ boiled water.