Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Chikungunya camps begin in slums

Special Correspondent

`Vigorous efforts will be taken to ensure total sanitation'

IS EVERYTHING FINE?: A woman from Anna Nagar near Sivananda Colony in the city being checked for symptoms of chikungunya at a special camp organised by the Coimbatore Corporation on Tuesday. - Photo: M. Periasamy

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation began on Tuesday a month-long intensive chikungunya prevention drive in slums across the city where poor sanitation and low awareness posed risk of spread of the disease.

20 teams

Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran said 20 teams of the Corporation, each headed by a doctor, will conduct medical camps in the slums and also oversee efforts to ensure total sanitation in these areas.

"Vigorous efforts will be taken to ensure sanitation", he said.

These areas would be cleaned by removing garbage and preventing stagnation of rainwater. Besides, drainage canals would be desilted to prevent stagnation of dirt water that could lead to other diseases.

Special focus

Even though the Corporation has embarked on a 42-day prevention drive from September 4 across all the 72 wards in the city as part of a State-wide exercise, there is special focus on the slums where people lived in appalling conditions.

Water for drinking and also washing purposes got from public taps is stored in open plastic or aluminium containers or cement tubs.

Earlier sensitisation efforts to prevent dengue had focussed on safe storage.

But the need for fresh efforts not only points to poor penetration of awareness programmes, but also of the lowering of guard by the people in these areas.

Safe storage methods are adopted when diseases strike. Once under control, people lose focus on these and that necessitates special efforts such as the fresh one, according to civic officials.

Kallukuzhi

The slums to be covered under the drive include the thickly populated Kallukuzhi off the Sungam Junction at Ramanathapuram and Anna Nagar near Sivananda Colony.

The location of Kallukuzhi (a colony formed in a defunct quarry) invites trouble.

At least 20 ft below the road level (it is along Kamarajar Road), rainwater stagnates here in no time and this heightens the risk of dengue and chikungunya.

Pamphlets

The Corporation has brought out pamphlets listing out the causes of chikungunya and ways to prevent it. It also assures the public that the disease is curable and not fatal.

Besides the camps, those living in the slums can contact the Corporation health officials in case of fever and other symptoms such as joint pain and headache.

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