No malaria and dengue case this year in Samtse

malariaCall it winter’s boon or more accurately the efforts of health officials, the Samtse hospital did not record a single case of malaria as well dengue cases this year.

Samtse’s District Health Officer (DHO) Sonam Dorji said, the main reason for zero malaria and dengue case would be because of supply of long lasting bed net as well as malaria workers making visit from house to house and give health talks to the people.

Supply of bed net is done on a yearly basis since 2006. Insecticide is also sprayed during house to house visits while vector surveillance is done time and again.

“Also we destroy the stagnant water, plastics and other dirty things, when we make house to house visit”, the DHO said.

The hospital has everything in place and planned, before the start of summer till the season’s end.

Surroundings of residential areas are clean during dry seasons but during summers it becomes bushy where mosquitoes breed easily. With an initiative from the health staffs, people are told to clean it up under their guidance and there is active participation from the health officials.

Awareness programs have made vast differences when it comes to cleanliness.

The DHO said, “There are also malaria workers at each and every gewog and Community Action Group to support the ministry and as well as with the cleaning and sensitization.

A Community Action Group has been formed since 2011. The Malaria workers are at the malaria endemic places in15 gewogs.

Though the number of cases has decreased the same health services are catered to the patients. The DHO said people come for blood test even when they get a slight fever.

More than 100 cases are seen during the malaria prone season while in winter only 7 to 8 cases are observed. Around 58 blood samples were collected but with zero positive cases. Last year recorded 12 malaria cases and 32 cases were seen in 2010 while two suspected cases of dengue were seen in 2011 and in 2010.

However, the southern area did witness an outbreak of Chikungunya (a mosquito-borne disease) where 20 patients tested positive and more than 100 cases were clinically diagnosed.

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