A new department in Sri Lanka to prevent dengue as death toll rises to 177

Sri Lanka Ministry of Health has decided to establish a separate department to fight the dengue epidemic spreading in many parts of the island.


This new department is to be named as Department for Prevention of Dengue.
Minister of Health Maithripala Sirisena says that the necessary documents to set up the department have been submitted to the government for approval.
According to the Epidemiology Unit of Health Ministry, dengue outbreak has claimed more than 177 lives so far this year in Sri Lanka and 24,202 people have contracted the disease that often becomes fatal.

The Minister of Health was saying that locally produced and imported BTI bacteria will be introduced to prevent dengue spread. However, the bacteria did not appear as claimed due to a wrangling over its label.
The Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), the company involved in the production of BTI says the bacteria is not poison while the Registrar of Pesticides says it needs to be labeled as a poison since it is a pesticide.