Fighting dengue: Surveillance of junkyards, warehouses ordered

Town officers ask Wasa to drain rainwater immediately.

LAHORE:

Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique said on Saturday an Anti-Dengue Day would be observed on Sunday (today) to educate citizens about the threat of dengue fever.

The adviser was presiding over a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Dengue at Civil Secretariat.

He ordered that dengue surveillance activities at graveyards, junkyards, warehouses and constructions sites be intensified. He said cleanliness of such places was important to eliminate dengue mosquito breeding sites.

Additional Chief Secretary Aamir Sohail Mirza, Commissioner Rashid Mahmood Langrial, District Coordination Officer Muhammad Usman, Health Services Director General Zahid Pervaiz, Additional Secretary (Technical) Salman Shahid, Head of Chief Minister’s Dengue Cell Prof Wasim Akram, the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) managing director and the health executive district officer attended the meeting.

The meeting reviewed steps taken by the town administrations for dengue fever control, draining of rainwater and disposal of solid waste.

Town administrators presented their performance reports. The officers highlighted problems they were confronting during anti-dengue activities.

They told the meeting dengue larvae were mostly detected in water standing in desert coolers, junkyards and pots placed in graveyards.

Administrators of Ravi Town, Data Gunj Bakhsh Town and Samanabad Town said rainwater in their localities had become a breeding site for dengue mosquitoes. They demanded that the Wasa drain the standing water on a war footing.

Mirza directed the Wasa managing director to address the issue and submit a report. He directed the Environment Protection Department to ask owners of junkyards to keep their premises clean.

He ordered that open water containers in junkyards be dismantled.

Rafique said appropriate action would be taken against the owners of junkyards, commercial buildings and construction sites if dengue larvae were found on their premises.

Prof Akram asked town administrations to carry out case response activities and focus on the areas where dengue larvae had been detected.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2014.