Awareness campaign: ‘Areas with high swine flu incidence ignored’

YDA says govt campaigns focus on areas where no cases were reported

LAHORE:

The Health Department’s campaign to raise awareness about precautions needed to keep swine flu infection at bay is concentrated in city areas from where no swine flu cases have yet been reported, Young Doctors Association office bearer Dr Aftab Ahmed tells The Express Tribune.

He says banners and posters with precautionary measures printed on them can be seen mostly along The Mall, in the Defense Housing Authority, Gulberg, Model Town and Bahria Town.

He says no comparable campaign has so far been undertaken in neighbourhoods along Multan Road and Bund Road. These are areas from where most swine flu cases have been reported in the city.

Health Department data shows that of the 80 swine flu cases reported this season around 20 per cent are from Lahore. Most of the remaining are from Multan, Dera Ismail Khan, Khushab and Rahim Yar Khan.

The latest death from swine flu occurred at Nawaz Sharif Social Security Hospital on Monday. The deceased had been brought to the hospital from Khushab.

The YDA leader alleges that the awareness campaign has yet to be expanded to small towns and far-off areas of the province. “Multiple factors can cause the spread of the disease. Access to diagnostic facilities and awareness about precautionary measures like use of face masks and safe distance from those showing symptoms of influenza is crucial,” he says.

He says elderly people, infants and pregnant women are more likely to contract the infection.

Rahim Yar Khan resident Irfan Muhammad says his father was diagnosed with swine flu three days ago at Jinnah Hospital. He says that for several days before their departure for Lahore his father had remained under treatment for influenza at the Rahim Yar Khan district headquarters (DHQ) hospital. “There was no improvement in his condition so I brought him to Lahore,” he says.

Muhammad says there had been no campaign about precautionary measures in his area.

“The government has not made any arrangements for treatment of swine flu at the DHQ hospitals,” he says. “Why would I come all the way to Lahore if treatment facilities were available my city?” he asked.

“My father would not have been sick, if we were told about the precautionary steps like wearing mask or feeling normal influenza also could be a cause of deadly disease” he commented.

Health Department spokesperson Ikhlaq Ali Khan dismissed the suggestion that the campaign is restricted to some areas only.

He says awareness campaign has been extended to all parts of the province. “,” he says.

He says swine flu cases have not led to an epidemic because of the effective measures taken by the government.

He said that the campaign has been run without any discrimination of city or districts, but in interior Punjab, the people normally could not pay attention regarding any campaign about their health.

“When they get sick, they start blame to the government” he said adding that only 20 percent cases are reported from Lahore district.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2016.