PM Makes Impassioned Public Appeal

While addressing  the  addressing the diamond jubilee celebrations of the government Medical Laboratory Technologists at Temple Trees yesterday(23),Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe   made an impassioned public appeal for cooperation to destroy mosquito breeding grounds in their neighbourhoods.

He said the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump in April triggered problems relating to municipal solid waste management and increased the mosquitos breeding grounds. He further  said, although the government which came to power in 2015 had identified the need for a permanent solution for the garbage crisis, various court actions had prevented the use of any of the locations the authorities earmarked as alternatives to Meethotamulla.

He recalled that the Supreme Court had issued an order temporarily banning the dumping of garbage at Muthrajawela after the Meethotamulla collapse that led to the deaths of nearly 40 people. I hope the issue will be resolved after the court case is concluded,” the Prime Minister said.

However, the authorities were now managed  to dispose of garbage at Karadiyana and Dompe and long-term garbage-to-energy projects were also expected to be ready shortly.

“The need now is to control the spread of dengue. We need to step up our efforts,” the Prime Minister said adding that hospitals were overflowing with dengue patients.

“Cleaning schools (of mosquito breeding grounds) and their surroundings is taking place,” the Prime Minister said. “If residents can take care of their homes and neighbourhoods and ensure they don’t allow mosquito breeding, we can resolve this problem more easily.”

He applauded Health Minister Rajith Senaratne for his efforts to launch a multi-pronged campaign to save lives and also take preventive measures to contain the virus.

“The health minister has got all stake holders involved in this effort and the President is giving his utmost to tackle this problem,” the Prime Minister said.

He said government laboratories played a key role in detecting dengue and helping with effective treatment although there were several shortcomings with private sector labs which delayed blood reports thereby undermining effective treatment.

The government had allocated 350 million rupees to import urgently needed equipment to deal with the sudden demand for blood tests from suspected dengue patients.

“We have lost several lives, we can’t allow our people to suffer like this,” the prime Minister said. “It is our responsibility to control dengue and eventually eradicate it.”

Official figures show that there had been over 100,000 reported cases of dengue this year and about 250 people have succumbed to the virus.

Australia last week offered 1.5 million Australian dollars (Rs. 172 million) to manage dengue patients as well as engage in long-term research with the Monash University to battle the spread of dengue.