Health minister wants 100-bed dengue ward set up

‘Patients from capital should be referred to hospitals there to create room for locals’

RAWALPINDI: With dengue cases in the garrison city soaring above 1,400, the provincial health minister on Monday called for enhancing the capacity to accommodate dengue patients in the three allied hospitals of the city, including 100 beds in the Red Crescent building.

This was directed by Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid on Monday as she chaired a meeting with Punjab Director Health Services (DHS) and officials from the district administration in the new teaching block of the Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU).

Rashid directed the DHS to overcome the shortage of beds, doctors and other related staff and facilities for treating dengue patients at the earliest.

The DHS told the minister that anti-dengue activities have been expedited whereas district emergency response committee is regularly reviewing the progress of operations.



RMU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Dr Muhammad Umar briefed the meeting about available facilities in the allied hospitals of Benazir Bhutto General Hospital (BBH), Holy Family Hospital (HFH) and the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) and their requirements.

Later, the provincial health minister visited allied hospitals in Rawalpindi on Monday. She expressed her satisfaction with the healthcare facilities and instructed officials to not show any lethargy in this regard.

She was told that though the facilities in the hospitals were all decent, the campaign was not being run in a manner that was up to the mark.

DC on dengue

Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ali Randhawa on Monday suggested that dengue patients from neighbouring Islamabad admitted in Rawalpindi’s hospitals should be referred to hospitals in the federal capital to create more room for local patients.

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Meanwhile, the number of dengue patients in Rawalpindi is escalating every day despite the ongoing anti-dengue campaign by the district administration and the health department.

As many as 62 more patients were brought to allied hospitals over the past 24 hours including 39 from the worst-hit dengue area, Potohar Town. After including these patients, the total figure has risen to 1,436.

Later, the DC chaired a meeting of the anti-dengue review committee in which he directed officials to ensure implementation of Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) regarding the dengue campaign. He instructed to start outdoor surveillance.

Randhawa instructed to keep a special check on underground water tanks and other means of water storage.

Anti-dengue measures in Airport Housing Society Phase-IV, Gulraiz Colony Phase I and II and New Afzal Town along with Dhok Kala Khan should be expedited on an emergency basis, he said and added that all required measures should be taken to protect schools from the disease.

Randhawa asked authorities to discover owners of all abandoned properties in the city to start anti-dengue measures there.

The attendants were informed that the environmental department inspected up to 25 tire shops and 54 junkyards and registered a case against one place where dengue larvae were found.

The officials were also apprised that the Auqaf department checked up to 69 mosques in Rawal Town and 31 in cantonment areas and recovered no larvae.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2019.