Photo for representative purpose only
KOLKATA: Kusthia Masjidbari Lane, Picnic Garden, CN Roy Road, Mayfair Road (Ballygunge), Ironside Road — which are dengue-prone zones — have been reporting two to three Covid-positive cases daily. On Tuesday, a 12-year-old boy died of dengue at the Institute of Child Health at Park Circus, was from Kusthia Masjidbari Lane. Fighting the disease with its resources currently stretched in the battle against Covid will be an uphill task for Kolkata Municipal Corporation as the critical months of August, September and October approach, which always report a spike in dengue cases.
According to a health department official, while the department is engaged in the fight to contain Covid spread in large areas around Park Circus and Picnic Garden, it will be more challenging to combat a twin attacks of Covid-19 and dengue.
The dengue death has necessitated a major prevention drive in Park Circus, Ballygunge, Topsia, Beniapukur, Entally and Taltala, which are known as dengue-prone areas. Besides these, the KMC is worried about Dum Dum, Cossipore, Bagbazar, Burrabazar, Rabindra Sarani, Jorasanko, Kidderpore, Jadavpur and Baghajatin, among other areas.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday sounded an alert asking all municipal corporations and municipalities to keep a vigil on the state’s dengue-prone areas.
According to a KMC health department official, if special drives are not conducted in these zones, there could be a widespread outbreak from August itself. It could get out of control by September. There could be a respite only after winter sets in, the official said.
However, this year, the dengue prevention drive is bound to get slow because of the pandemic since the resources have been stretched and many civic doctors and healthcare workers have tested positive for Covid and are quarantined at home, a KMC official said. “We need to split our team to conduct simultaneous Covid- and dengue-prevention drives at the ward level. But we will have to compromise in some areas for want of manpower,” an official said.
This lack of preparedness could prove costly in case of an outbreak in dengue-prone zones, felt a section of KMC medical officers on duty at the ward health clinics. Civic doctors are particularly worried about vast areas of boroughs IX, X, XI and XII. Among areas in south Kolkata, the health department will need to concentrate dengue prevention drives in Tollygunge, Garia, Ramgarh, Golf Green, Lake Gardens, Prince Anwar Shah Road, New Alipore, Chetla, Kalighat, Bhowanipore and Behala. Large areas off Bypass also need a special dengue drive.
In north and central Kolkata, Girish Park, Burrabazar, Rajballavpara, Chitpore, Amherst Street, Belgachhia, Ripon Street, Elliot Road and SN Banerjee Road need special attention. The focus must also be on areas in adjoining municipalities, like Dum Dum, Kamarhati, Baranagar and Rajpur-Sonarpur, a source said.
