Dengue virus: Govt still in planning mode despite rising cases

Health minister says his dept cannot tackle the issue alone

KARACHI: At least 19 more dengue patients were confirmed in the province, including 17 in Karachi, last week, taking the total number of patients to 219 since January this year.

In a review meeting chaired by Sindh health minister Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar at his office in the Sindh Assembly on Friday, the minister asked the Dengue Prevention and Control Programme (DPCP) officials to come up with a comprehensive plan.

The minister urged other stakeholders, including the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), to be taken into confidence as the health department alone cannot address the issue. "Unless we are all gathered on one platform we will not be able to achieve our desired goal," Dahar said.

DPCP programme manager Dr Masood Solangi informed the minister that a massive awareness and mitigation drive was launched across the city last year. Our job is to diagnose and treat patients, as well as help in awareness drives, he said, adding that preventive measures, to be carried out by KMC, have not been taking place since the start of this year. "There are reservoirs of mosquitoes in the city which will unleash as soon as the cold weather subsides," he warned.

An official of the health department told The Express Tribune that despite the rise in cases in various parts of the city, the DPCP has not initiated any awareness drive or fumigation campaigns.

"The DPCP just shares numbers with the top authorities," the official said, adding that it just collects numbers from different hospitals. The close coordination with KMC is also missing, he added. The official said the recent awareness campaign, which included distributing pamphlets to the public, ended in November last year. The department has not made any comprehensive plan for another one as yet, he informed.

On November 4, 2015, the health minister had announced that university professors would also be taken on board to help overcome the spread of dengue. But, the official claimed, nothing has been done so far in this regard as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2016.