Gaps found in dengue data collection

Second comprehensive dengue survey ordered to expand data beyond public hospitals

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Department has ordered another comprehensive survey of dengue cases across the province, including Peshawar, after gaps were found in data collection.

All the district health officers (DHOs) have been directed to include private hospitals too in the survey in order to get a complete picture of the dengue cases in the province as previously only the data of public hospitals had been included in the survey.

Further steps would be taken in light of the fresh survey to contain the spread of the mosquito-borne disease which has gripped the province.

Local residents claim that dozens of people have been killed by dengue but the health department only considers data from its own public hospitals authentic.

Dengue reports from private laboratories are also rejected as unauthentic by the department as a result its own data collection is often questioned by the general public.

“Data from the government hospitals is submitted to the health department on a daily basis but private hospitals don’t share details of patients and deaths with the department but now DHOs have been ordered to ensure data collection from both public and private hospitals,” said an official.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2022.