2,200 anganwadi centres in dist to get mosquito nets

With cases of dengue on the rise across Mysuru district, the Department of Women and Child Development is planning to provide mosquito nets to anganwadi centres to protect children from mosquito bites.

Since children sleep in anganwadis for a while after lunch, they risk being attacked by mosquitoes.  The district has 2,860 anganwadi centres and 600 of them have already been provided with mosquito nets by the respective gram panchayats and the Department of Health and Family Welfare, according to K Radha, Deputy Director, Women and Child Development.

“We aim to fully contain mosquito bites among children and that’s why we have submitted a proposal on distribution of 2,200 mosquito nets to the principal secretary of the department,” she said.

Besides, more than 50% anganwadi centres have already been provided fans. Thirty-one centres under the Bannikuppe zilla panchayat constituency in Hunsur will get fans soon, she added.

Fans could not be fixed in centres that do not have proper power supply, she said. “Since 852 centres are housed in rented buildings, we are not able to provide the necessary facilities. Still, in order to contain dengue, all the centres have been asked to tie mosquito meshes and nets to windowpanes,” she said.

Similarly, the Health Department has formed 18 dengue task forces to check the menace. These teams will visit homes and other places to conduct a survey and take up cleanliness drives.

This year, as many as 279 dengue cases have been confirmed in the district. Of them, 166 have been reported from urban areas and the rest from rural Mysuru. According to a source, 13 people have died from viral fever. A large number of children have been suffering from fever across the district.

Cheluvamba Hospital, the children’s healthcare facility in Mysuru, which has a total bed capacity of around 410, is overcrowded.