Chandigarh, Nov 18 (PTI) All government and private hospitals must provide accurate data on dengue cases, or else face action, Haryana health Minister Arti Rao said on Monday.
She said her department is taking all steps to prevent an increase in the number of dengue cases in the state.
Fogging is being done periodically in the affected areas to reduce dengue incidents, she said.
There has been a significant reduction in dengue cases in the state's 22 districts as compared to last year.
In 2023, there were 8,081 dengue cases, which were reduced to 4,634 this year, the minister informed the assembly, responding to the calling attention motion of the opposition on the issue of dengue.
Opposition INLD and Congress members in their notices sought the government's response on dengue cases and the farmers allegedly not getting timely supply of the DAP fertilisers.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said there was no shortage of DAP or urea fertiliser in the state.
Rao said reporting of the vector-borne diseases has been made mandatory by all hospitals and laboratories of the state.
If any hospital, whether government or private, shows negligence in reporting clear data on dengue, strict action will be taken immediately, she said.
Dengue tests are being conducted free of cost, with 27 government labs, at least one in each district, currently functioning, she said.
A total of 1,13,667 dengue tests have been conducted in the state till November 11, 2024 and 196 wards and 1,022 beds have been kept reserved for dengue patients at government hospitals, she said.
Under the Haryana Municipal Bye-Laws (Control of Vector-Borne Diseases), 1,03,485 notices were issued till October 15 to the owners of premises where mosquito breeding was detected repeatedly.
More than 6,900 localities were covered under fogging repeatedly (743 wards, 466 sectors, 1,870 colonies in urban areas and 2,078 villages and 1,763 localities) till October 15, Rao said.
The Department of Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats conducted fogging using 5,606 hand-operated and 43 vehicle-mounted machines, the minister said.
Responding to a question on the shortage of doctors, Rao said an exam is being conducted by the PGI (Rohtak) on December 1 to fill 777 vacancies.
Saini said given the changing weather, directions have been issued to speed up the fogging across the state.
He urged residents to ensure the cleaning of stagnant water which may have collected in flower pots or coolers in their homes.
Indian National Lok Dal MLA Aditya Devi Lal claimed the farmers were forced to stage a dharna on roads because of a shortage of DAP fertiliser.
Congress MLA Aftab Ahmed said when farmers need fertiliser for crop sowing, they can't find it, despite the government saying otherwise.
Thus attacked, Saini said, "Being a farmer's son, I deeply understand the challenges farmers face regarding the availability of fertiliser. For November, a total of 1,10,200 metric tons of DAP has been allocated."
On the availability of DAP stock in Sirsa, Saini informed the House that on October 1, the initial stock of DAP in Sirsa was 1,063 metric tons, and as of November 18, there were 2,217 metric tons of it available.
In Hisar district, there are still 2,087 metric tons of DAP available, he said.