Pindi cracks down on dengue violations

Dr. Mehmood, DCEPC, says health department issued 121 tickets and Rs212,000 fines for dengue SOP violations

RAWALPINDI:

The district health authority (DHA) registered 50 cases and sealed 62 premises on violations of anti-dengue SOPs from January 1, 2024, to date.

District Coordinator Epidemics Prevention and Control (DCEPC), Dr Sajjad Mehmood Wednesday said the health department, in collaboration with allied departments, had issued tickets to 121 and imposed a fine of Rs212,000 on violations of dengue SOPs during the year.

The health officer said only four dengue patients had been reported in the district so far and were sent to homes after treatment.

Dr Sajjad added that during indoor vector surveillance, the teams checked 1,214,595 houses and larvae were detected at 2,404 sites while during outdoor surveillance larvae were found at 598 spots while inspecting 316,370 places.

He said the district health authority had devised an effective micro plan to control the spread of dengue keeping in view the previous year’s statistics, adding present rains had also increased the spread of dengue larvae breeding for which concerted efforts were in place to screen every nook and corner of the district so that dengue could not become an epidemic this year.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi commissioner has directed the officials to accelerate field activities for tracing larvae and expedite surveillance in the graveyards, junkyards and under-construction sites which were the vulnerable places for dengue spread.

He has directed the health department to ensure the availability of required treatment and medicines in the hospitals.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2024.