70% drop in dengue cases this year, claims Health Minister

Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on Monday said a 70 per cent reduction in dengue cases had been noticed this year as compared to last year, while chikungunya cases in the state had witnessed a 90 per cent decline this year, too.

Chairing a review meeting, along with Health Special Secretary Varinder Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain and all stakeholder departments on Monday morning, Dr Balbir said last year Punjab had a recorder 13,000 dengue cases by this day, while the count was only 2,032 this year. He also said no deaths due to dengue had been reported.

Mohali, he said, had a very few cases as compared to the 1,325 cases reported last year, that too, without any fatality. The district administration was directed to work proactively in coordinating with all stakeholders like the local bodies in urban areas, development authorities and panchayats in rural areas and water supply and sanitation departments.

The minister said the state was mulling to equip about 20 lakh students of Class VIII onwards of the state with basic life skills like checking and destroying dengue mosquito breeding, first aid to accident victims, stopping nose bleeds, taking care of snake bites, improvement in life style disorder etc. The Health and Family Welfare Department has been preparing a basic curriculum for this, he added.

To ensure unadulterated sweets were provided to customers during the festive season, milk products samples were being collected and a dedicated food safety van had been deputed, he said.

He said he would take a weekly review from the Deputy Commissioner. DC Jain assured the health minister of the aggressive campaign to educate people about dengue mosquito larvae and how to destroy it. The meeting was attended by Health Department, Local Bodies, Rural Development and Water Supply and Sanitation Department officers, including administrative officers of the district and subdivisions.