LAHORE: The health authorities are yet to initiate Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) or fogging despite the fact that the number of complaints about the presence of adult larvae has considerably increased.

According to guidelines of the World Health Organization, although chemicals are widely used to treat aedes aegypti larval habitats, larviciding should be considered as complementary to environmental management.

Talking to Dawn, a public health expert says Data Ganj Bakhsh Town followed by Ravi Town and Cantonment Board are said to be at the top among others where the highest number of complaints of dengue mosquito breeding have been reported.

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“The health department has received more than 200 complaints about the presence of adult larvae in these three areas of the city but the IRS and fogging activities have been initiated to address a few complaints only,” he says. On the other hand, no such activities were done in the jurisdiction of Walton Cantonment Board (WCB) which has no designated anti-dengue staff.

Over 200 plaints about larvae received from two towns, Cantt Board

The WCB comprises densely populated localities like Qainchi Amar Sadhu, Ghazi Road, Chungi Amar Sadhu, etc and these areas were largely hit during the first dengue outbreak with several deaths.

“The aedes aegypti goes through a complete metamorphosis with an egg, larvae, pupae, and adult stage,” the expert says.

The adult life span can range from two weeks to a month depending on environmental conditions. The life cycle of aedes aegypti completed within one-and-a-half to three weeks.

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The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the comment of the public health expert who said the official figures of 200 written complaints meant the number of dengue mosquitoes may be in hundreds of thousands and consequently a large population of the city is at a grave risk of contracting the disease if prompt action is not taken soon.

Interestingly, the WCB management is dependent on the staff of Project Management Unit (PMU) of the health department for anti-dengue activities including vector surveillance.

He says the budget of the City District Government Lahore staff deputed in the Cantonment Board jurisdiction is being shared by the Aziz Bhatti Town administration while the anti-dengue staff is getting salaries from the PMU.

Consequently, he says, there is a lack of coordination between the WCB and other government departments to initiate anti-dengue drive in the jurisdiction of the board. Many complaints about the dengue breeding sites are going unreported by the board for not having the designated staff.

Giving an example of the mismanagement on the part of the WCB, he said a resident of Mohammadpura called on the official number of the board and informed the staff about the presence of a large number of dengue mosquito in the street. The staff advised him to contact CDGL officials. He then contacted the Nishtar Town administration but it refused to attend his complaint saying the locality fell in the WCB jurisdiction.

When contacted, Health Executive District Officer Dr Zulfiqar Ali was not available for comments, however, District Programme Coordinator Dr Farrukh Sultan says the Dengue Experts Advisory Group (DEAG) recommended only targeted spray including IRS and fogging.

He says during the 2011 dengue outbreak, large-scale spray and fogging had been conducted which adversely affected the health of the people. “Now we are following guidelines of the DEAG and the complaints are being addressed accordingly keeping in view its environmental impact.”

To a question, he says the City District Government of Lahore is strengthening coordination with the WCB in order to launch an anti-dengue drive more effectively.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2014