Residents urged to remove dengue hotspots from houses

Minister says its time for people to be responsible

LAHORE: It is the prime responsibility of the residents to keep their houses clean and remove dengue hotspots as the government has been carrying out awareness campaigns to create awareness among them for the last many years.

This was stated by Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Health Khawaja Imran Nazir on Tuesday during a meeting of cabinet committee on dengue at civil secretariat.



The minister said that dengue surveillance teams were also visiting every house and now the time has come that the people should fulfil their responsibilities and keep their houses clean. He directed officials that from next dengue season, a red sticker on houses should be pasted from where dengue larvae were found.

Additional Director General Dengue Control Dr Farrukh Sultan briefed the meeting about the latest dengue situation in the province. He said that as compared to 4,731 confirmed dengue patients of 2016, this year 1,017 confirmed dengue patients have been reported in Punjab so far, which included the patients from other provinces and abroad.



“The government is seriously considering to regularise the services of dengue workers because of their part in controlling the disease,” said the minister. He directed all the district administrations to send a list of contractual dengue workers to the health department for further necessary action. He directed that such department should enhance their anti-dengue activities which have been pointed out by the special branch in their report for persisting control on the dengue situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2017.