Dengue emergency imposed in Pindi

With cases on the rise, health department declares district ‘most sensitive’

RAWALPINDI:

The district administration has imposed a dengue emergency in Rawalpindi district as the number of dengue cases are continuously on the rise.

The Punjab Health Department has also declared Rawalpindi district as the most sensitive district after Lahore district.

Over 1,000 teams have been formed to eradicate the dengue virus from the district. The number of suspected dengue fever patients across the district has reached 91, out of which 29 patients have been diagnosed with dengue virus.

The health department has also been instructed to make arrangements for the treatment of dengue fever on an emergency basis in all allied hospitals. The district administration officials said that the number of dengue fever patients is increasing continuously.

The official said that Kahuta and Chak Jalaldin are the areas from where most of the cases were reported. Moreover, a large number of dengue larvae were being found in residential areas of the inner city and cantonment areas continuously.

Cases have been registered against more than 724 people for not following anti-dengue SOPs, said the official, adding that in the first week of August, 98,120 houses were checked, out of which dengue larvae were found in 1,357 houses.

The official said it has been revealed that the highest number of larvae has been found in Potohar Town. The checking of a total of 16,2913 places of commercial areas, under-construction buildings and deserted areas has been completed, he said, adding that around 60 percent of places were found with dengue larvae.

Therefore, 297 buildings were sealed during anti-dengue operations, while so far fines of more than over Rs2.3 million have been imposed for negligence.

Around 9,474 places across the district have been declared hotspots for dengue and 3,450 hotspots are in Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation area. Thus, the district administration has decided to impose dengue emergency in the district after consulting with the experts.

The spokesperson of the district administration said that the number of patients suffering from dengue fever in the district crossed 30, out of which 14 patients hailed from Chak Jalaldin while others belong to Kahuta.

Rawalpindi Commissioner Noorul Ameen Mengal said that deputy commissioners of all four regions are monitoring anti-dengue drives and he himself supervising the measures to prevent the spread of dengue fever in all the districts.

Mengal said that the citizens should act responsibly. "We don’t want to register cases against citizens. The purpose of filing cases is to make people realize that dengue mosquito could cause a deadly disease," he said. All allied hospitals are ready to deal with any emergency, he said, adding that special dengue wards are ready in advance with sufficient beds and medicines.

“We are trying to ensure that the least number of dengue patients visit hospitals this season,” he hoped.

The commissioner said that the Punjab government's dashboard is being used to monitor anti-dengue teams. All team members have smartphones and they are bound to provide location details, pictures and their performance.

Awareness walk held

Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) organised a walk on Saturday to raise awareness against the disease. The RDA director general has urged the RDA staff members to ensure cleanliness of the office and their homes. He said awareness plays a key role in the fight against dengue because prevention was far better than cure.

He stressed the need for collective as well as individual efforts along with collaboration of all the stakeholders for the awareness, implementation and control of any epidemic. He also highlighted ways to control various developmental stages of dengue from its eggs to larva and full grown mosquitoes.

The official advised the citizens to remove stagnant water so that dengue larvae could be prevented.

On severe violations, strict action in accordance with the law was being taken against the violators and FIRs are also being lodged, he added. He said that the authority would continue its efforts against dengue.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2022.