PMC to hire 300 people to check spread of diseases

Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation has decided to recruit 300 people to check the spread of mosquito-borne diseases in the city.
Health department officials, while speaking at the general body meeting on Friday said the administration will start a special drive from Monday to reach out to residents. Also, help from non-governmental organisations and corporates will be sought to deal with the problem.
Elected members from all parties blamed the civic body for not doing enough to deal with the spread of dengue and chikungunya. They blamed the health department officials for not providing enough fogging material to prevent the further spread of the diseases.
S T Pardeshi, head of PMC's health department, said, "Shortage of manpower is the main problem in reaching out to all places in the city. The PMC currently has 300 personnel who are working for eradication of mosquito borne diseases. The number will be doubled in the next week."
Some works, such as fogging, will be outsourced. Financial support as well as technical support will be sought from experts. Mosquito breeding spots have been found in plush areas too and awareness needs to be increased. "There is hardly any remedy to dengue and chikungunya. The only option it to take steps to reduce their spread. The aim is to reduce the breeding spots in the city," Pardeshi said.
As per the state government data from January to August this year, a total of 439 chikungunya infected people were found in the state, out of that 51.25%, that is 255, were from Pune, while 161 out of 2,572 dengue patients in the state were from Pune.