Dengue returns to Cutbona, but authorities fail to put system in place for screening migrants

the goan I network

MARGAO

Will the Director of Fisheries and the district Collector, South intervene and put a system in place at the Cutbona fishing jetty as dengue has raised its ugly head at the fishing hub this fishing season?

This question has come to the fore again even as the health authorities descended at the Cutbona fishing jetty to undertake fogging operations and conduct a survey of the entire area to unearth possible breeding sites. The reason is simple: While it’s now 50 days since the new fishing season had commenced on August 1, the health unit opened right at the jetty has screened only around 300 migrant workers employed on the fishing vessels till date when over 3,000-odd migrants from the malaria endemic states of Odisha, Jharkhand and other states have descended at the jetty to work on the fishing vessels.

Despite letters dashed off to the Fisheries Director and the district authorities to tone up the sanitation mechanism at the Cutbona fishing jetty, the ground reality has not changed for the better. The district authorities are yet to even convene a joint meeting of the stakeholders, including the officials of the Fisheries, Panchayat, boat owners, besides health to take stock of the situation as the screening of the migrant workers have not kept pace with the ground reality.

An official of the Balli Primary Health Centre, which has jurisdiction over the Cutbona fishing jetty, said that there’s practically no response from the district authorities and the Fisheries department on the sanitation front at the Cutbona fishing jetty.

The Health department on Friday carried out a fogging operation in and around the Cutbona fishing jetty as a precautionary measure in the wake of the two more dengue cases involving migrants coming to light in the last few days.

In fact, teams of health workers went around the fishing jetty, checking anything and everything, including rubber tyres on fishing boats, metal grinders, water tanks, canoes for possible breeding sites. “We do not want to take any chances since around four cases have been reported from around the fishing jetty till date. Today, we had drafted over a dozen workers to carry out a comprehensive drive in and around the fishing jetty,” a health official said, adding that the department has asked the Fisheries official posted at the jetty to dispatch to the head office with recommendations to clean up the possible breeding sites.

The Balli Primary Health Centre had drafted a dedicated personnel at the Cutbona fishing jetty days before the commencement of the fishing season on August 1 to screen the migrant workers arriving at the jetty to work on the fishing vessels, but the response had been lukewarm during the initial stages.

“Since the migrant workers have come to work for the boat owners, the authorities should work out a mechanism wherein the owners get their employees at the health unit set up at the jetty for screening,” remarked a health official.