Dengue claims six lives in Bengal, Mamata holds high-level meeting

With six people succumbing to Dengue since June end, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting, and issued an advisory warning against letting stagnant water collect in any premises.

State Health Services director B.R. Satpathy said 838 people have been afflicted by dengue this season, with six fatalities.

After the meeting at the state secretariat Nabanna, Banerjee told media persons that the advisory would cover all premises and construction sites.

"An advisory has been issued underscoring that that stagnant water storage will not be allowed, even if the premises belong to a media house, or police station, or a market, school, hospital, metro rail, or taxi stand, or houses central or state government offices," she said.

She laid stress on conducting checks on construction sites, where various equipment are left for years, resulting in accumulation of stagnant ater, said to be the breeding place of the dengue virus or the vector causing malaria.

Representatives of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, a number of municipalities, panchayat bodies, health and disaster management departments and police took part in the deliberations.

Banerjee said advisories have been issued to all schools to keep their premises clean and conduct cleanliness drives.

The various government arms and private bodies have been asked to campaign to raise public awareness so as to prevent any major outbreak of diseases.

She said officials of the health, municipal and urban development departments will go door to door and distribute leaflets to apprise the public about the do's and don'ts.

The medical colleges and district hospitals have been directed to keep blood banks open day and night and arrange for round the clock testing of blood samples to detect the diseases.

--IANS

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