ECONOMY NEXT – Sri Lanka’s National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) has resumed usual dengue control measures after required fuel is received, but Health Inspectors’ Union has said the government is yet to provide sufficient fuel to carry out the prevention measures.
“We carry out anti-dengue programs like Vector Mosquito Control programs and Routine Medical Observation since an adequate amount of fuel is being received currently,” NDCU Director Sudath Samaraweera told EconomyNext.
The week ended on September 15 saw 1027 suspected dengue cases reported in 23 districts in comparison to 1254 cases in 24districts during the previous week. Though the number of suspected cases has fallen this month, the overall number up to September 15 of this year has more than tripled to 55012 from 18265 in the same period last year.
Lack of fuel and some chemicals due to forex shortage have hit the dengue control measures, health officials have said.
The Western province accounts around 50% of total number of dengue suspects this year, official data showed,
Public Health Inspectors Union, however, say the dengue prevalence is still on the rise,
“There is an acceleration in dengue cases – yet no precautions are enabled due to the unavailability of fuel,” Upul Rohana, said Chairman of the Public Health Inspectors’ Union.
“They send us guidelines to hold anti-dengue programs but it is not practically possible to carry them out as we have no fuel to run the office vehicles.”
The Union through the Health Ministry has discussed the fuel issue with the authorities who promised to take necessary steps to provide fuel. (Colombo/Sept17/2022)