Dengue emergency wards close down as cases drop

New anti-dengue campaign for 2023 is currently under formulation

RAWALPINDI:

Dengue emergency wards in the allied hospitals of the garrison city are currently being shut down due to the decrease in dengue infections in the district.

Moreover, the district administration and the health department have will begin a new anti-dengue campaign on February 15, 2023 to continue working to control the spread of dengue. For this purpose, 400 dengue sanitary patrol workers will be recruited as daily wagers to ensure that the campaign takes place successfully.

Deputy Commissioner Shoaib Ali has also issued instructions to declare hotspot areas in the new anti-dengue plan in areas where the majority of dengue cases were reported during the last five years.

Officials have also decided to procure new dengue kits, new spray hand pumps, and chemicals from the Director General Health Punjab for the new anti-dengue campaign starting in 2023. Since 60 per cent of hand pumps broke down this year, it was also decided to get separate kits and separate hand pumps for each team.

On the other hand, four more dengue cases were reported in Rawalpindi during the last 24 hours, raising the tally of confirmed cases to 4,753.

District Coordinator Epidemics Prevention and Control Dr Sajjad Mehmood said on Saturday that 11 patients were admitted to the city's allied hospitals, including six to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital, four to the District Headquarters Hospital, and one to the Holy Family Hospital. He added that out of the total admitted patients, eight were confirmed cases, with six belonging to Rawalpindi.

In collaboration with allied departments, the health officer added that the district administration had registered four FIRs, sealed one premise, issued challans to 15, notices to 546, and a fine of Rs377,000 imposed on violations of anti-dengue SOPs from November 26 to date.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2022.