Nalgonda: No new cases in Chandupatla in last five years

Nalgonda: A government initiative to control Lympatic Filariasis in Chandupatla village has yielded positive results with not a single case being reported in the last six years. The decades-old problem was solved with simple interventions which included sanitation and cleanliness. Chandupatla village has 4,500 population and is located about 35 km from Nalgonda town. It […]

Nalgonda: A government initiative to control Lympatic Filariasis in Chandupatla village has yielded positive results with not a single case being reported in the last six years. The decades-old problem was solved with simple interventions which included sanitation and cleanliness. Chandupatla village has 4,500 population and is located about 35 km from Nalgonda town. It had over 250 filaria cases before 2014. One-sixth of the total filaria cases in the district were reported from this village alone. Currently, 95 patients out of the 1,567 in the district are from this village. The filaria patients get a pension of Rs 2,000 per month from the government.

The initiatives included cleaning, desilting and clearing water stagnation to control the mosquito menace. Hitherto, three open wells were the breeding places for mosquitoes which led to the incidence of filaria. These wells were closed with the desiltation from the nearby tanks which were repaired under Mission Kakatiya. In addition to this, concrete roads and drainage canals were constructed in all colonies at a cost of Rs 70 lakh. Moreover, the village got a dumping yard and garbage collection took place effectively under Palle Pragathi programme. The Gram Panchayat also purchased a fogging machine with funds obtained under Palle Pakruthi Vanam. All these measures have put an end to mosquito breeding and ultimately controlling the vexatious issue of filaria.

The incidence of filaria has made life miserable for over 50 villagers who became severely handicapped. Three of them had their legs amputated but died later because of uncontrolled infections.

A filaria patient T Gangadara Chary lost his job as a TSRTC driver after he suffered from filaria. He is now operating a grocery shop. He says improved sanitation and roads laid in the village roads under different schemes have stopped cases of filaria. Narsinga Naresh, son of Yadaiah who died due to filaria, said that poor sanitation was the reason for breeding of mosquitoes, which were the reason for the transmission of filarial parasites. In the last five years, the Gram Panchayat has taken up special sanitisation measures after they got sufficient funds from the government. Earlier, the Gram Panchayat was not capable to purchase even a fogging machine, he added.

Secretary of Gram Panchayat Shankaraiah said that the sanitary workers were taking care that no water stagnation in the village and also desilting the drainage canals from time to time. Door-to-door waste collection and dumping yard came up at the village helped locals avoid dumping waste at their backyards in the village, he added.

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