The Health Department on Thursday introduced the Dengue Control Regulations 2011 under the Punjab Epidemic Control Act 1958 to give legal protection to the measures it has taken to battle the mosquito-borne disease.
Health Secretary Jehanzeb Khan told reporters that the regulations would make it binding on schools to follow the government’s directives on dengue control. The regulations will remain in force until November 30, 2011, during which time any necessary legislation will be drawn up, he said.
Khan said that the regulations require the owners of tyre godowns, workshops, nurseries and construction sites to “destroy all items which can aid in the spread of dengue”. Sewage drains would be cleared of blockages and artificial ponds dried once a week to prevent the proliferation of mosquito breeding sites.
The secretary said that the regulations empowered Health Department officers to enter any building for insecticide spray or inspection of the control measures undertaken by the owner and lodge complaints against violators. Schools would have to take measures to check the breeding of mosquitoes and raise awareness about the disease.
He said that a “health hotline” (0800-99000) manned by senior experts had been set up to guide private doctors and family physicians on the treatment of dengue patients. He said that letters carrying guidelines prepared by a special committee led by Prof Faisal Masood had been sent to more than 2,000 private doctors. He said the Punjab government was using all the financial and human resources at its disposal to combat the virus.
Cell separators
At the city’s major teaching hospitals, patients complained about a lack of cell separator machines.
Many of the deaths from dengue have been of patients with chronic diseases like diabetes and hepatitis, who require quick platelet donations or risk death. The government has provided cell separators to the teaching hospitals, but they are small and cannot produce a high volume of platelets quickly.
Health Department officials said that that the department had bought 18 cell separators worth Rs75 million last month which had been provided to hospitals. He said that the department had ordered 40 more machines. The official said that the department should have purchased the machines earlier, as they were essential for treatment.
Death toll
Nine people died from the dengue virus on Thursday, while another 608 people were diagnosed with the disease in Punjab, including 461 in Lahore. A total of 14,019 patients have recovered from the virus and been discharged from hospitals in Punjab, including 12,196 in Lahore. At present, 1,862 dengue patients are being treated in Punjab hospitals, 1,581 of them in Lahore.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2011.
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