Vector-control workers of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) will have to work on all holidays, including Sundays, the civic body has announced in the wake of a sharp rise in the number of dengue cases.
The CMC has also decided to keep 41 primary health centres (also called ward health units) and eight dengue detection centres (diagnostic units where samples are tested for the disease) open on all holidays till further orders.
“The holidays of vector-control workers have been cancelled till the first week of November. Till then, our vector-control workers will have to work on all holidays, including Sundays,” said an official in the civic health department.
“The decision has been taken as dengue infections in the city are rising very fast.”
The primary health centres have doctors who provide primary healthcare. Blood samples of patients are also drawn at the centres for dengue and other tests.
Mayor Firhad Hakim announced on Friday that 3,802 dengue cases had been reported in the city since January. The majority of the cases were reported in the last 30 days.
CMC officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Metro that 700 dengue cases were reported till mid-August. The number increased to 1,400 by the end of August.
It further rose to 2,700 in the second week of September and 3,802 in the third week.
A number of dengue patients have died in the city, but neither the CMC nor the state health department has disclosed the death toll.
The CMC recently also tweaked the hours of its primary health centres, following a directive from the state health department.
One can now consult a doctor in any of the 144 primary health centres between 2pm and 7pm on Tuesdays and Fridays. This is in addition to the usual schedule — 9am to 2pm — on other working days, except Saturdays, when the clinics run for a shorter duration.
“The revised schedule will enable a number of people who work in the morning and afternoon to consult a doctor in the evening,” said a doctor at the CMC.