Dengue, pink eye strain hospitals

Punjab records alarming spike in mosquito-borne disease

LAHORE:

Both the dengue and ophthalmology wards of hospitals are struggling to cater to a mounting number of patients across Punjab.

At least 3,196 patients of dengue fever were registered in the province during September, including 1,341 in Lahore district, according to official record.

The spread of the disease peaked in all big districts of the province and the number of patients increased three-fold as compared to the cumulative figure for the first eight months of the ongoing year.

The authorities declared an emergency in the hospitals to cope with the situation.

Only 1,109 dengue patients had been confirmed in the first eight months of the year, while the figure for September is 3,196.

In Lahore, 395 dengue cases had bene confirmed in previous eight months, followed by 1,341 in September.

According to officials of the dengue monitoring department, the disease spread from a few districts to almost all the cities during the month.

The most alarming rate of dengue spread is being recorded in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Gujranwala districts.

A senior health official said the large number of patients in Punjab had exposed the performance of the departments responsible for curb dengue virus.

“Now the scale of the eye infection is also a proof that our departments and administration have failed to fulfil their responsibilities,” he added.

He said the departments were focusing on holding meetings and preparing documents regarding preparations to curb the seasonal diseases, while even the water accumulated during monsoon rains had not been drained from parks and other public places. The official said the only significant step taken by the primary and secondary healthcare department to cope with the situation was launching a helpline for the purpose.

He said there had been no dengue survey and complaints had been received that the teams responsible to eradicate the larvae had not visited many hotspots.

The most alarming thing is that the weather is changing in Punjab but the number of patients has not dropped, he said, adding that the hospitals might face a challenge of treating all the patients if the situation would not improve in the next month.

The official said patients were already complaining of shortage of bends in the dengue wards of the major health facilities in the provincial capital, including the Mayo, Sir Ganga Ram, Services, Jinnah and Lahore General Hospitals.

Meanwhile, 121 new dengue patients were registered in the government and private hospitals across Punjab during the past 24 hours.

According to an official of the Punjab Dengue Monitoring Department, the total number of dengue cases conformed in the province during the ongoing year increased to 4,305, including 1,736 in Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2023.