566 people afflicted with dengue virus in K-P

Peshawar leads the way with cases

PESHAWAR: As many as 566 people have been reported to suffering from the viral dengue fever in the province with the most cases reported from the provincial capital of Peshawar.

This was disclosed in a provincial report on the incidence of dengue released by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Department on Thursday.

Even though the report provided a breakdown of cases in the settled areas of the province, there was no data on the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas of the province.

The report stated that the Peshawar district is the most dengue affected region in the province with some 499 cases reported from there.

It was followed by Abbottabad which reported 17 cases. As many as 13 cases were reported from Swabi, 12 from Haripur, eight from Kohat, four from Battagram, two each from Karak, Bunner and Lower Dir. One case each was reported from Mansehra, Upper Dir and Bannu.

Sources in the health department say that a Dengue Response Unit (DRU) has been formed which will be responsible for monitoring measures to stop the spread of the dengue virus in the province apart from collecting data about dengue patients from different hospitals and basic health units (BHUs).

They added that the health department is currently facing difficulties in computing exact figures of dengue patients in the province owing to several discrepancies in the cases reported by hospitals.

Large medical teaching institutes (MTIs) are not providing correct information about the number of patients being brought to them from the BHUs or other health centres while most of hospitals and BHUs are issuing data without notifying the health department, one source in the health department disclosed.

A senior health official stated that the number of cases reported thus far is comparatively lower than the 680 dengue cases reported last year and much lower than the 24,000 cases reported in 2017.

However, the government expects that the number of dengue patients in the province will rise in the coming days despite the precautionary measures taken.

Officials believe the current situation is well under the control of the provincial health authorities.

In nearby Rawalpindi, the number of confirmed dengue cases have surpassed 1,100 prompting the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to take notice of the situation.

Last month, health officials said that provincial capital has been put on high alert after a large number of cases were reported. In Peshawar, most of the cases were reported from Sarband, Sheikhan, Mushtarzai, Pawaka, and Speena Wari.

Health department officials further said that dengue cases have also been reported from the newly-merged districts but no new measures have been adopted to mitigate the spread of the virus there, nor has any high-level meeting been called to discuss the prevailing situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2019.