Dengue spreads unabated in Punjab

130 new cases of break-bone fever recorded in a day

LAHORE:

The daily tally of new dengue patients registered in Punjab rose to 130 on Wednesday.

The figure is the highest for a day during the ongoing year.

However, the officials responsible insisted that the situation was normal despite the average number of patients contracting dengue fever doubling as compared yo the previous week.

According to health officials, at least 63 confirmed dengue patients were brought to hospitals in Lahore in the past 24 hours.

The disease has reached 16 districts of the province, but Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan remain at the highest risk.

Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan Khan said 165 patients were admitted to the dengue wards in the province, including 70 in Lahore, while the number of hospital beds allocated for the providing the best treatment facilities to them was 2,678. He said no death caused by the fever had been confirmed in Punjab this years.

The official appealed to the people to cooperate with the health department to curb dengue in the province.

The total number of dengue cases recorded in Punjab this year has increased to 2,270.

According to the Punjab Dengue Monitoring Control Room, the disease has reached 16 districts of Punjab and is now spreading to small towns from the populous areas.

"We are continuously telling the health authorities to consider the alarming situation but the officials responsible are ignoring the threat of dengue. We have received 945 confirmed dengue patients in Lahore this year," a senior health official told The Express Tribune.

The number of patients registered in Rawalpindi is 463, including 31 confirmed on Wednesday.

The third big district at a high risk is Multan, where 269 patients have been registered this year, including 10 in the past 24 hours.

The districts affected by dengue are Gujranwala, Chakwal, Sheikhupura, Attock, Muzaffargarh, Okara, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Nankana Sahib, Narowal, Bahawalpur, Toba Tek Singh, Khanewal and Chinot.

Communicable Disease Control Programme Director Dr Yadullah Ali also sought to assure the public that they need not panic.

He said highest ratio of patients for a day had been confirmed in the province but the figures were quiet low as compared to other countries.

He said there had been 50,000 dengue patients confirmed in India during the season, while 38 of them had died. There have also been thousands of cases and several fatalities in Bangladesh and other countries in the region.

The doctor said the peak season of dengue in Punjab was from August to November.

"We must remember that we witnessed record rains in Lahore this year," he said, adding that the affliction of about 2,200 people amongst a population of 140 million and their successful treatment showed that the authorities could cope with the health risk.

An official said there was a need for zero tolerance against negligence in eradication of dengue larvae from their hot spots by the local administration of Lahore and other districts at risk.

A senior health official said while speaking to The Express Tribune that all departments having a role in anti-dengue campaigns should be alerted and the caretaker government should take action against negligence of officials in this regard.

He said the district administration officials in whose jurisdiction the number of dengue patients was continuously increasing should be held accountable.

He said the district health departments and local governments of Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and some other areas had not made timely arrangements during the monsoon rains to curb dengue. As a result the number of patients in the hospitals is increasing.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2023.