Authorities unnerved as Punjab grapples with dengue outbreak

CM orders activation of anti-dengue brigade and its vehicles

LAHORE: Warning strict action against dereliction of duty over the dengue outbreak in Punjab, Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has announced free tests at all public hospitals across the province.

Presiding over an emergency meeting to review anti-dengue measures at his office on Monday, Buzdar expressed concerns over a surge in the number of dengue patients in Lahore and Rawalpindi. He issued directives to authorities concerned to intensify the anti-dengue campaign.

He also directed officials to immediately activate the anti-dengue brigade and its vehicles should remain available on the streets to carry out sprays.

He announced that all free dengue tests, including CBC, would be conducted at hospitals. He assured all resources would be provided to save the people from dengue.

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He also stressed the need for running an effective awareness drive about safety from dengue. He said more medical staff should be recruited through walk-in-interviews.

The chief minister directed authorities to immediately send three mobile health units to Rawalpindi, while also giving a nod to filter clinics. The meeting decided to set up an anti-dengue cell at the CM office.

The chief minister said provincial ministers and assembly members would be assigned duties and they would monitor anti-dengue measures in red zones.

He said necessary steps should be adopted for the treatment of dengue patients in hospitals. “The line departments and administrative officers should always remain available in the field in these unusual circumstances,” he said.

The CM added that the government is taking all possible steps to overcome the dengue epidemic in the war-footing basis.

Buzdar said dengue information counters should be set up at hospitals to guide patients. Similarly, private general practitioners should also be trained in dealing with dengue disease. He said necessary medicines should be available in hospitals. Along with those measures, tehsil and district emergency response committees should be reactivated and local notables, as well as public representatives, should be included in these committees.

He reiterated that dengue surveillance should be efficiently performed and said third-party audit of anti-dengue measures would also be conducted.

He informed the meeting that DCs of Lahore and Rawalpindi have been changed for failing to take timely anti-dengue measures. “There is no room for any leniency in this regard and immediate action will be taken wherever negligence is noticed,” he said. “I will also monitor anti-dengue steps and practical measures should be visible in the field.”

He also warned that no dereliction of duty would be tolerated.

Punjab ministers Dr Yasmeen Rashid, Raja Basharat, Hashim Jawan Bakht, chief secretary, secretaries of health, finance, local government and information departments and others attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, two deputy commissioners were suspended after they failed to control the dengue epidemic in their respective districts.

The officials concerned have been issued an alert on the prevention of dengue mosquitoes while seeking reports of dengue control measures from district authorities.

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Punjab Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will be collecting the data and reports about health and dengue prevention on daily basis from now. The government has also warned action against any negligence in this regard.

On the directives of Punjab Chief Secretary Yusuf Naseem Khokhar, deputy commissioners have been warned that ‘no more carelessness’ would be tolerated in the health sector. The officers have been directed to send a detailed report about hospitals in their respective areas explaining what level of treatment arrangements were in place for the treatment of dengue patients at the teaching hospitals as well as DHQs and THQs. Complete detail of the number of patients and their treatment would be submitted in this regard.

The steps were taken by the provincial government harbinger a reshuffle in the district administration as well as the health department in the coming days. The warning has also been issued against those who have been performing ineffectively to curb dengue fever in their designated areas.

The sources revealed that two more deputy commissioners are expected to be replaced soon. It has also been reported that dengue larvae were found from the house of a deputy commissioner, while the government offices, under the supervision of deputy commissioner, are having traces of a large number of dengue mosquitoes.

The deputy commissioners of the respective districts did not take any action following those reports and now the government has sought a clarification from the officers concerned.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2019.