Killer malaria strain lurks in city, BMC has just 2 fogging machines

Bareilly: The deadly plasmodium falciparum malaria has claimed 46 lives in the district but the Bareilly Municipal Corporation (BMC) has only two vehicle-laden fogging machines for the city’s 80 wards. Notably, a team of experts had recently found the mosquito density in the worst-affected villages in the district way higher than the normal.
District magistrate VK Singh has now instructed municipal commissioner Rajesh Shrivastava to take all measures to curtail the spread of the killer parasite in the city.
Chief development officer Satyendra Kumar said, “We are sitting on a landmine and it would be very difficult to control if the PF malaria spreads in city.”
“Some PF cases have been reported in the city over the past couple of days, which is quite worrisome. The BMC has just a couple of fogging machines, which is indeed a matter of concern. I have ordered to immediately buy one fogging machine each for 80 wards in the city,” the DM said.
Two cases of plasmodium falciparum malaria were detected in Sanjay Nagar in the past couple of days.
Civic body’s health officer Dr Abbas Ali said, “We have two vehicle-laden fogging machines and two vehicle-laden anti-larval spray machines to cover the entire urban population. Besides, we also have five hand-held fogging machines which we use in parks and commercial complexes. Today, the municipal commissioner is in Lucknow and more fogging machines each for every ward will be bought as soon as he comes back as the DM has already instructed us to do so.”
The DM said, “We are collecting stock of medicines from all corners of the district on a daily basis as well as officials are having meetings with villagers to educate them what measures are required to fight it. We are also consulting experts with international exposures to find ways to deal with the situation more effectively.”
Meanwhile, the CDO said, “It is easy to curtail PF malaria or any other kind of fever in rural areas since rural pockets have comparatively scattered population. But if it starts spreading in highly dense urban localities, it would be very difficult to control it.”