Bhubaneswar: Health secretary Pramod Kumar Meherda Tuesday asked his department officials to distribute mosquito nets in malaria-affected districts of the state without further delay. Earlier this year, the Centre had dispatched 26.54 lakh medicinal mosquito nets to the state.
In 2017, the Centre had sent 1.13 crore mosquito nets to the state that were distributed in all districts where mosquito effect was seen in a large way. That could bring in 80 per cent control in the incidence of mosquito-related diseases. Recently, the state government had asked the Centre for more mosquito nets.
“The state government will also buy additional mosquito nets with the money from the District Mineral Fund for which a tender will be floated soon,” officials said.
In coming years, the government will send around 1 crore mosquito nets which will be distributed in districts such as Gajapati, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Sundargah. The nets will also be distributed in districts where malaria has been controlled to an extent.
The state government has set a target to eradicate malaria from the state in next five years.
“While in 2017, 3.52 lakh malaria cases were reported, it came down to 66,000 in 2018. The figure has further plummeted to 22,000 in 2019.
