Number of dengue cases much higher than reported

Health department insiders believe the actual number of the infected population is far higher

LAHORE:

Albeit not unprecedented, dengue’s vice-like grip over Punjab has only tightened in recent weeks which has triggered allegations from within the provincial health department that the actual number of the infected population is higher than the one being publicly shared.

More than 7,000 cases of the mosquito borne viral disease have been reported from the country’s most populous province this year - a number currently being contested by officials from Punjab’s health department. Sources privy to the matter informed The Express Tribune that not only is the reporting mechanism for infections flawed but that the health department was only releasing selective data.

Central General Secretary of Young Doctors Association (YDA), Dr Salman Kazmi, when asked about the allegations, opined that the reporting mechanism of the government was indeed flawed. “A large number of dengue patients go to private hospitals or treat themselves at home. The government has ignored these patients and is only reporting data of patients from government hospitals,” Dr Kazmi explained. However, he was of the view that even with the inaccurate data collection, the government had largely failed to contain dengue and that no one was being held accountable. Officials from the health department believe that the fault lies with their department.

They alleged that at the start of the year, the department had purposefully misreported numbers and made it seem like dengue infections were low. In doing so, the health department gave a false sense of confidence to other departments involved in curtailing the disease’s spread; hence, no serious actions were taken to combat larvae, as per the officials. One source from within the department informed that the sudden jump in dengue cases seen in the past month was because previously reporting teams were occupied with surveying the coronavirus, diarrhoea, and polio campaigns; the reporting teams had just turned their attention towards data collection for dengue. Provincial Minister for Health, Dr Muhammad Akhtar Malik, when asked about the allegations regarding misrepresentation of actual infections, denied them outright.

“There is no error in the data being released. We report the actual numbers on a daily basis.” When asked about the rising infections, Dr Malik conceded that preventive measures were not used sooner. “However, now the health department is destroying dengue larvae from across the province and has employed other effective anti-dengue measures to curb the spread of the infection,” the minister informed while talking to The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2022.