Its president Dr Ashok Phillips said the public must strive to destroy the breeding sites of Aedes, the mosquito that causes dengue, as well as clear-up the surroundings of abandoned buildings.

“The authorities must also go into such places and charge the irresponsible owners (who facilitate the breeding of the Aedes mosquito),” he told FMT.

According to Ashok, the current method of using insecticides was not effective, and not environment-friendly either.

He suggested the use of genetically modified mosquitoes as the best solution to the problem.

“These mosquitoes are sterilised radioactively. When they become sterile, they can be genetically modified.

“These (genetically) modified mosquitoes will then be released to mate with female Aedes mosquitoes. As a result, the mosquitoes won’t be able to produce any viable offspring,” he said, while calling on the government to run an awareness campaign to explain to the public how the programme worked.