DHAKA: Padma Bank Limited, a leading fourth generation bank in Bangladesh, has distributed mosquito nets to poor, orphans and homeless people in an effort to combat aedes mosquitoes responsible for the worst outbreak of dengue fever in the country.
Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, the chairman of the bank, inaugurated the programme this week while the bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Md. Ehsan Khasru distributed mosquito nets to hundreds of homeless people in the capital Dhaka & others seniors were present their as well.
The programme, undertaken as part of the bank's corporate social responsibility, mostly targetted the orphanages and homeless people who live in bus stands and railway terminals in the capital Dhaka.
Bank officials, while joining the distribution program, also offered on-the-spot advice to the people about mosquito prevention measures.
In a sport speech marking the occasion, Khasru said the deadly dengue outbreak has created panic among the countrymen as hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients afflicted with the fever.
"We know how vulnerable the poor people are in the country. Many of the homeless people who live in bus stations or railway terminals and children who live in the orphanages don't even afford to buy mosquito nets to stay safe from mosquito bites," Khasru said.
"That's why we are distributing mosquito nets to these people and the orphanages. We hope these nets would protect them from the dengue scourge," he said, adding the bank has also taken up a series of mosquito eradication measures.
He urged all the stakeholders, rich people and corporate houses to do whatever is needed to raise awareness about dengue fever and educate people on how to destroy the larvae of aede mosquitoes.
Orphanage authorities and low income people who received the mosquito nets thanked the bank for this "heart-warming gestures" and for standing beside them during these crucial hours.