Malaria cases on the steep rise in Delhi

Delhi is under the grip of chikungunya, dengue and malaria as well due to the MCD’s complacency in controlling the incessant mosquito breeding and failing to keep Delhi neat and  clean, free of dirt, filth and unsanitary conditions despite Prime minister Modi’s clarion call for making his dream project Swatch Bharat Abhiyan a grand success.

As a result of this the queues of patients at the government and the private hospitals are increasing day by day. The main reason behind the uncontrolled spread of these diseases is the widespread prevalence of unsanitary conditions and dirt all over Delhi and complacent attitude and behavior of the authorities concerned to effectively cope with the situation.  

What makes the situation more worrisome is the fact that cases of Malaria that were on the downside during the previous years have now come to the fore with more and more cases of dreaded malaria being reported from various parts of Delhi. Delhi has been the constant victim of two different parties ruling in the state as well as in the MCD and as such there had always been confrontation with regard to the allocation of budget and as a result the MCD employees had to resort to strikes in the past for good number of days for not getting their salaries thus affecting the cleanliness work of the entire DELHI with heaps of dirt, rubbish and bio-degradable ” Kachra” lying in tons and heaps in hundreds of dustbins and drains remaining  unclean for days and months together thus giving rise to the dreaded mosquitoes of malaria and chikungunya though dengue mosquitoes take birth in clean stored water as compared to malaria which takes birth in dirty and filthy dumps. Though the Swatch Bharat Abhiyan of prime minister is in full swing with crores of rupees being spent on advertisements to mobilize people of the country, unfortunately despite best efforts of MCD as claimed by them, the cases of dreaded chikungunya, dengue and malaria are constantly on the increase with one death reported so far.

As per the latest data released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi the city has by now reported around 520 cases of Malaria and 948 cases of dengue followed by 340 cases of chikungunya. During monsoons and intermittent Delhi rains these mosquito prone diseases increase manifold as the possibility of mosquito breeding due to water clogging and excessive dirt with unstilted drains goes higher with hospitals full of patients. The need of the hour is therefore to establish proper coordination between the MCD sanitary, health departments and Delhi government and expedite adequate and mass scale fuming, insecticide’ pumping and other measures to kill the dreaded mosquitoes on a war footing. The hospitals should also be fully equipped with all the relevant equipment, medicines and doctors to adequately cope with the critical situations if need be.

The cleanliness drive should be taken forthwith in order to counter and check the increasing mosquito population in Delhi. Meanwhile over four thousand domestic mosquito anti breeding workers of three MCD zones are on strike demanding better pay structure, regularization of their services and granting them health insurance. This speaks of the fact that the situation which is already worrisome is going to further worsen keeping the Delhites on tenterhooks.

SUNIL NEGI