Dengue menace: Public urged to help authorities curb virus spread

Punjab health services chief visits Rawalpindi, reviews anti-dengue campaign


Our Correspondent October 22, 2018
PHOTO: AFP

RAWALPINDI: The public on Sunday was urged to help the health authorities and the district administration to curb the spread of the dengue virus in the city by taking preventive measures and to ensure that standing waters are drained.

This was urged by the Punjab Health Services Director General (DG) Dr Muneer Ahmed as he visited the garrison city on Sunday to take stock of the dengue situation in the city. He also chaired a meeting on the anti-dengue campaign in Rawalpindi which was attended by senior officials including the Rawalpindi Station Commander.

Dr Ahmed said that they are taking measures to cull larvae of mosquitos which spread the dengue virus.

However, to completely prevent the spread of the virus, the public will have to cooperate with the district administration and healthcare authorities.

“The public needs to ensure the timely adoption of protective measures,” he said.

Moreover, he said that most of the suspected cases of dengue reported in the allied hospitals of the city this year originally hail from other areas of the country, particularly Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the federal capital, Islamabad.

He added that all patients admitted in Rawalpindi’s hospitals had been provided with adequate treatment and that no deaths have resulted from a dengue infection in the city so far this year.

Conceding that suspected cases of dengue continue to be reported from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, he said that if a case is reported from Rawalpindi, they mount an immediate case response.

The health services chief directed officials to enhance larva sighting operations in parks, graveyards, workshops, tyre repair shops, houses and industrial establishments.

He further urged the public to adopt protective measures and to ensure that water does not stand in their homes, streets and neighbourhoods.

Earlier, he visited various parts of the city on Sunday and examined the steps taken so far by the health department to counter dengue.

Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Health Authority Chief Executive Khalid Mehmood said that they have the requisite equipment for an anti-dengue campaign including fogging machines, demi-foss for IRS spray along with a stock for the anti-mosquito spray.

On the treatment end, Dr Mehmood said that they have the facilities to treat those infected by dengue at all the three allied hospitals of the city.

He elaborated that patients affected with dengue do not require any special medicine apart from paracetamol analgesic. But since it is a viral infection, patients need to take rest and adopt preventative steps.

In this regard, he said that they try and educate the attendants of victims.

Anti-measles campaign

The 13-day anti-measles campaign has achieved 60 per cent of its target in just the first six days. Children who could not be vaccinated due to non-availability will be vaccinated in the remaining week.

The campaign to protect children between six months of age and seven years from measles had started on October 15 and will continue until October 27. The district health authorities aim to vaccinate as many as 852,000 children in the district.

Dr Mehmood said after taking cues from the anti-polio campaign, they had undertaken a comprehensive awareness campaign on measles which had helped significantly lower the number of parents who turn away the vaccinators. Children who were missed because they were not present at home or their educational institutes, will be targeted in the remaining seven days of the campaign.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2018.

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