Expressing concern over vector-borne diseases which could affect people due to early arrival of monsoon, the health department has directed its officials to take measures to prevent such diseases including creating gambusia fish hatcheries in large numbers in the state.
This year the health department has increased gambusia fish hatcheries in the state. The health department directed all chief medical health officers (CMHOs) of the district to keep sufficient amount of gambusia fish in the hatcheries and also to develop new hatcheries which are natural, such as ponds in villages.
A senior health department official said there are around 2,000 permanent gambusia fish hatcheries in the state, out of them around 600 are permanent hatcheries and the rest are natural hatcheries. The health department will breed gambusia fish in the hatcheries in natural as well as in the permanent hatcheries.
The official said that in case of waterlogging, the officials will shift gambusia fish from hatcheries to the waterlogged areas. The gambusia fish are very small and they eat larvae of the mosquitoes. “It takes around 15 days for larvae to develop into a full mosquito so we have maximum 15 days time to kill larvae by various options available to us and gambusia fish is one such option to kill larvae,” the official said.
The health department is aiming to prevent even a single death due to vector-borne diseases. National Rural Health Mission director (Rajasthan) Gayatri Rathore said that in case malaria Plasmodium falciparum (pf) case is found, a health survey would be conducted in 50 houses in the neighbourhood and fogging will be done.
Moreover, the health department is taking help of different government departments including roadways, railways, panchayati raj and municipalities. The official said that all the departments were asked to identify the areas where waterlogging is a frequent problem. “We have asked the municipalities to clean the area which are dirty and they could develop into mosquito breeding ground. The municipalities have been asked to do fogging after rain,” he said.
Also, the roadways department would give burnt engine oil to the health department, which the health department would use in the waterlogged areas or in ponds where the larvae could breed in large numbers. “When poured on stagnant water, the burnt oil prevents the mosquitoes from breeding,” the official said.
src: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-16/jaipur/40005961_1_health-department-vector-borne-diseases-hatcheries