Rourkela, July 18: The city administration has geared up to tackle the dengue menace in various parts of the state, including the mining belt of Barbil in Keonjhar district and the Jagatpur industrial area in Cuttack.

Additional district magistrate Manisha Banerjee chaired a task force meeting on dengue involving top government officials. "The aim was to involve everyone from the very beginning, so that there is a well co-ordinated effort to curb the threat of these diseases," said Banerjee.

She said anganwadi workers and accredited social health activists had been pressed into service to create awareness. "Besides, we are involving schoolchildren to help us in spreading the awareness on how to prevent dengue and other water-borne diseases. We are also teaching people how to recognise the early signs of such diseases," she said.

The two main hospitals in the city - Ispat General Hospital (IGH) and Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) - have been asked to open special dengue wards. "We have opened the dengue ward at RGH," said its chief medical officer, Ramachandra Behera. A similar ward have been created at IGH as well.

Behera said: "At this moment, we have six beds in a special dengue ward."

The RGH also has provision for the Elisa test to ascertain dengue.

Banerjee said: "My special thrust area is the slums, because the chances of the dengue virus thriving in those areas is more." The authority is also planning to provide mosquito nets "on a sharing basis where part of the expense will be borne by the recipient and the government".

So far, three dengue cases have been detected - one at IGH and two in private hospitals. Incidentally, two of those cases had been infected outside Rourkela - in Kalta and Barbil - and were detected here. The patients were shifted to Cuttack for platelet treatment. "Such facility is available only in Cuttack and Burla. A team from Bhubaneswar visited the city, and we may get it here shortly," said Behera.

In this form of treatment, the platelets are drawn from the blood of an uninfected person and is administered to the affected one.

Behera said a room had been set aside for the facility, and the team that had visited said the machine would be procured shortly.

Rourkela Municipal Corporation health officials have started visiting houses in the locality. "The aim is to find out possible sources where the mosquito lays eggs. We are also doing this to spread awareness," said municipal commissioner Akhaya Mallick. "The fogging drive has been intensified."