Dengue: DC to pay surprise visit to schools

Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner S Sasikanth Senthil on Monday appealed to the heads of educational institutions to take measures to destroy mosquito larvae on campus within three days.

He was speaking at ‘Training of Trainers’ (ToT), a meeting of heads of educational institutions in the district, organised by the district administration at the Town Hall on Monday.

The deputy commissioner said he would pay surprise visits to educational institutions in order to ensure that the educational institutions focus on destruction of sources of mosquito larvae in the next three days.

Year-long campaign

The officer said that the district administration plans to conduct a year-long campaign against dengue and also warned of initiating stern measures against institutions that fail to destroy stagnant water on their campuses and hostel premises.

“Institutions should create awareness among students on dengue and preventive measures. The students themselves could be made ambassadors in the dengue control drive,” he suggested.

The officer added, “Students should take protective steps like wearing dresses that cover the body properly. Mosquito repellents such as neem oil should be smeared on the body. Mosquito repellent vapourisers should be used in the classrooms.”

Campaign objective

Senthil also said that the district administration has made larvae destruction one of the focussed areas of its campaign. “The objective is to destroy all mosquito breeding sites,” the official stressed.

District Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr Ramakrishna Rao, Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner B A Muhammed Nazir, Joint Commissioner Gayatri Nayak, DDPI Shivaramaiah, Malaria and Vector-borne Disease Control Committee member Suresh Shetty were present at the meeting.

‘Inform authorities on dengue cases’

If students in any educational institution are bedridden with dengue fever, the district administration should be alerted immediately, Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil has said.

“With the help of the Mangaluru City Corporation, the mosquito breeding sites should be destroyed. If any of the educational institutions in the city is not able to take up the work on its own, it can contact the Corporation control room on phone number: 0824-2220309,” the deputy commissioner added.