The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has called on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to set up a Presidential Task Force on the dengue outbreak, warning that the situation has escalated into “super epidemic proportions” and overwhelmed the country’s hospital network.

GMOA Media Spokesperson Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe told Ada Derana that the current caseload is tracking the 2017 dengue epidemic — the country’s worst on record — and that June alone has already exceeded May’s total within the first two weeks. “In May, 8,600 patients were reported. However, in June, more than 9,000 cases have been reported within the first two weeks alone. This in itself highlights the danger inherent in this situation,” he said.

Weekly dengue cases in the Colombo District have risen by 200 percent compared with the same period last year, Wijesinghe added, with the Western Province accounting for more than 50 percent of all reported cases nationally.

He warned that the public-health system was near breaking point even before the epidemic had peaked. “Although the number of dengue patients has not yet reached its maximum level, the health system is reaching its maximum capacity. There are a number of problems with the staff and medicines,” he said.

The GMOA wants the outbreak treated as a national emergency rather than addressed through isolated prevention projects. “Instead of implementing isolated dengue prevention projects in various places, we believe that all parties should be brought together to establish a national-level committee or a Presidential Task Force. A targeted, national-level action plan must be declared, and that plan needs to be executed right down to the grassroots level,” Wijesinghe said.

The call follows weeks of escalating caseload disclosures. The National Dengue Control Unit reported 41,144 cases and 24 deaths as of mid-June, with schools accounting for around 63 percent of larvae-positive premises. Health authorities have run a national mosquito-control week and a special programme across 74 MOH divisions, but the GMOA argues these measures fall short of the coordinated nationwide response required.

The Presidential Task Force demand marks the highest level of political escalation by the GMOA in the current outbreak.

Source: Ada Derana.