Dengue claims yet another life in K-P

PESHAWAR:

Dengue has claimed yet another life as the provincial government failed to take timely measures to prevent a dengue outbreak in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) despite prior warnings by experts.

An official of the health department told The Express Tribune that a death had been reported in Mansehra and the fatality toll from the epidemic has increased to eight.

He said that 414 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours across the province and now the number of cases had jumped to 8,485.

“Peshawar remains on top of the list with 240 new cases reported on Friday. In Mardan 53 cases were reported, Haripur 34, Swabi 23, Bannu 10, Nowshera 17, Dir Lower six, Malakand two, Lakki Marwat two, and one case each from Dir Upper and Hangu was reported,” he added, saying that 42 new dengue patients have been hospitalized.

There are 110 patients under treatment at the government hospitals currently across K-P.

Five flood-ravaged districts in the province are hit hard by dengue as well as malaria, cholera and dysentery outbreak without inviting any attention, making life miserable for the flood victims who have already lost their houses and belongings in the recent floods.

“Waterborne as well as mosquito-borne diseases are prevalent among the flood victims as well as other areas which indicates that the government and especially the health department has not learnt lessons from the past experience,” said an official, adding that for the past almost seven years, dengue outbreak is a yearly occurrence.

“This year too meetings were held in January and even December to discuss steps to prevent the outbreak of dengue but nothing practical happened as timely fog sprays in April didn’t occur on a large scale,” he said.

There are reports that the outbreak has provided a golden opportunity to the quack doctors and other private non-qualified practitioners to mint money with both hands in Peshawar and other districts.

“They charge Rs1,500 for a single drip and it is a popular belief that a dengue patient needs at least two to three per day. In government hospitals patients are not hospitalized until their life is in danger and people go to these practitioners for treatment when turned away by hospitals,” said a doctor, adding that the health department should run campaign to clear this misperception.

Anti-typhoid vaccination

Immunization against the deadly strain of typhoid will be carried out in K-P from October 3 during which 3.8 million children will be vaccinated.

The 12-day vaccination campaign will be conducted in 22 urban areas of the province.

The new vaccine is considered 80 per cent effective and children up to 15 years of age will be vaccinated. They will also be administered anti-polio vaccines.

The new vaccine has already been introduced in Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad successfully.

The vaccine has already been shipped to districts and staff has been trained.

Typhoid spreads through contaminated water and food. By creating awareness children could be prevented from the deadly strain.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2022.