The district administration has established five dengue filter clinics in sensitive areas to lessen burden of patients coming to allied hospitals for blood test of dengue virus, officials said on Wednesday.
The clinics in Kotha Kalan, Rehmatabad, Dhok Hassu, Habib Colony and Car Chowk will provide swift and free dengue virus test to people, lowering burden on laboratories of allied hospitals, including Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), Holy Family Hospital (HFH), and District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital.
Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Muhammad Usman visited the clinics for inspection of facilities on Wednesday.
Talking to the media on the occasion, he said blood was initially checked in complete blood count or CBC Analyzer for platelets count and added that on any doubts, a test was conducted with rapid test kit which took about a minute. Usman said that the patients found infected with virus would be referred to the closest hospital.
Similarly, regarding the outcomes of filter clinics, the secretary said activation of filter clinics would provide facilities to patients at their doorsteps along with lessening burden on laboratories of allied hospitals.
Widespread support for anti-dengue support
Community in general stands united in anti-dengue efforts, SAPM on Health Zafar Mirza said chairing a daily dengue meeting. Doctors and paramedics are giving extra time in government healthcare facilities, while private hospitals have offered space to accommodate overflow of patients, he said.
MNAs from Islamabad Raja Khurram Nawaz and Ali Awan were present in the meeting that discussed chalking out plan for effective community engagement in areas of concern.
SAPM shared that Islamabad Municipal Corporation Directorate General Health Services and Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) Health Department are conducting regular larvae surveillance and instituting urgent response measures through rapid response teams.
The dengue control room in ministry has undertaken resource mapping to effectively facilitate on-going response activities within the capital city, SAPM said. All major public and private sectors hospitals in Islamabad have allocated beds for Dengue patients. As of today, 197 patients are admitted in government and 63 in private sector hospitals in Islamabad, he said.
He said dengue counters and wards have been established in government and private hospitals of Islamabad.
Punjab government is providing free diagnostic services to dengue patients in all public sector health facilities, while semi-government and private hospitals in Rawalpindi have also allocated 260 beds for treatment of dengue patients. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has visited Rawalpindi, Sargodha, and Faisalabad on Tuesday to personally see the on-going response activities and directed concerned stakeholders to take priority actions. He further assured to provide all required resources to tackle the outbreak effectively.
Additional beds
Owing to influx of dengue patients and to provide substitute to shortage of space in allied hospitals, the administration of Cantonment General Hospital (CGH) has added 75 more beds in three wards allocated for dengue.
The male and female wards will have 25 beds each whereas remaining 25 beds would be kept reserved for future use.
Further, acting on the directions of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) Executive Officer Sibtain Raza, separate teams of doctors, nurses and staff have also been formed in CGH.
Meanwhile, the cantonment administration has also agreed to take additional dengue patients in allied hospitals in case of shortage of beds likewise Railway Hospital from where the patients were already being shifted from allied hospitals.
According to the spokesperson RCB, the anti-dengue campaign was underway in full swing under which the teams submitted reports twice regularly. He added the Additional Executive Officer Faisal Munir was overseeing the campaign while checking and spraying was also being conducted in each cantonment ward.
However, the dengue mosquitoes continue to prey as 14 more patients were brought to CGH yesterday.
Voicing support
All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association (AAPSCA) have announced to make ever possible co-operation with the government in anti-dengue campaign.
Under the program, the cleanliness campaign in as many as 30,000 private educational institutions in district Rawalpindi has begun.
Addressing a seminar on anti-dengue measures yesterday, the central leaders of association including Malik Abrar, Ilyas Kayani and Irfan Muzaffar Kayani said that cleanliness was half of faith while spread of disease could only be controlled with maintaining cleanliness.
They expressed that they would work side by side with government for eradication of illiteracy and protection from diseases.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2019.
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