Less rain till May causes decline in dengue numbers

PANAJI: While the state saw 64 dengue cases in the first five months of 2022, this year, Goa saw a marginal drop of just 48 cases. Health officials have attributed this to less unseasonal rain in 2023. Last year, even before the monsoon officially hit, three places in Goa had already seen dengue spread.
Last year’s April rain saw many dengue cases reported from horticulture farms in Valpoi, and in Calangute.“Due to continuous rain last year, there was not much time to collect dumped articles, if any, in Calangute. So, dengue cases were found there too,” said Dr Kalpana Mahatme, medical officer in charge of the national vector-borne disease control programme, Goa.
Since dengue mosquitoes breed in clean water, the directorate of health services insists that no empty cups, not-in-use tires, or other articles that could be a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes, be discarded out in the open.
In May last year, chikungunya cases were also reported from Margao. “But with there being no rain activity till May-end, we have fared better so far,” said Mahatme.
While the extended summer made life miserable for the common man and disturbed the plans of the farming community, health staff running disease control programmes benefited.
“We got a little extra time to carry out our activities this year. Source reduction drive, which also entails collecting tires in open spaces, is underway,” said Mahatme.
With malaria under control, the directorate focused on dengue containment. Its task was made considerably tougher due to the fact that Goa is dependent on labourers from other states, mainly in the real estate and fishing sectors.
Inspections were also carried out at construction sites, scrap yards, and fishing jetties. An area from where a case or cases are reported is also inspected. Since last year, civic bodies and the labour department have also been helping the directorate.
Another health official said that they want the labour department to register all contractors irrespective of the number of labourers they engage, as it would make it easier to keep tabs on labourers.
“Finding labourers becomes difficult unless we have a list of contractors with us. Smaller contractors with fewer labourers under them may skip our scrutiny,” the health official said.
All labourers must possess a health card, and a contractor is fined if his labourers are found without a health card issued by the directorate.