Response units hold dengue awareness session for lawyers

Two more die due to the viral haemorrhagic fever in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: As dengue virus claims two more lives in the provincial capital, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government held an awareness session for the Peshawar Bar Council members on Saturday.

The provincial government has accelerated awareness sessions to sensitise communities about preventive measures to overcome the viral infection.

Since its start in late July, the dengue outbreak has claimed 33 lives with over 90% in the provincial capital.

The district administration, besides local government representatives are involved in holding awareness campaigns and fumigation, however the viral infection seems to have spread causing problems for authorities dealing with the virus.

The health department has established Dengue Response Unit (DRU) which keeps an eye on cases for the reason to respond immediately.

Wherever cases are reported from, officials involved in campaign against the viral infection focus on that particular area, however officials are of the view the only solution to the problem was, not to let breeding sites so that mosquitoes did not find space for laying eggs.

A similar session was held at Peshawar Bar Council where health experts informed lawyers on how to prevent against the viral infection.

Interestingly, those who have filed writ petitions against the provincial government were absent during the awareness session.

Dr Iftikhar Uddin, a DRU member and assistant professor for community medicines at Bacha Khan Medical College Mardan, informed lawyers that mosquito was the biggest killer across
the globe.

Dengue virus was found in 100 countries across the world and claimed 22,000 lives annually.

He stated that a similar outbreak had panicked people in Swat when some 16,000 cases were reported from the valley in 2013.

The viral infection was however controlled after local cleaned the breeding sites disallowing the mosquitoes to spawn. People must cooperate since public cooperation was a must.

He also informed that people should not panic since over 90% of such people did not suffer from the viral infection and 9% out of the remaining 10% needed simple paracetamol and liquid intake.

Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel, who filed a writ petition against the alleged negligence of the provincial government towards the current dengue outbreak, did not attend the session and could not be contacted as to why he failed to show up despite repeated attempts for his version.

According to the DRU report on Saturday, around 1,429 people were screened during last 24 hours among which some 255 tested positive for carrying the virus. At least 122 out of 255 were admitted at different health facilities where 83 were discharged from hospitals after recovering.

Around 394 people were currently admitted and being treated against the viral infection.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2017.