Schools alerted on dengue risk

Administrators to oversee awareness, cleanliness measures

LAHORE:

With several dengue cases reported in the province indicating an increasing risk to people, the Punjab government has stepped up preventive measures to protect the citizens.

According to sources, the provincial government has asked the monitoring wing of school education department and to play its role to counter dengue spread.

The Punjab School Education Department has advised all government and private schools' heads to organise a 'zero period' regarding awareness about dengue fever.

Health experts said the coming two months are important to prevent the spread of dengue fever.

They they said the government, especially the health department should start dengue prevention activities by engaging the local governments in all districts.

According to the health department, more than 400 hotspots were identified in Lahore where dengue larva was found during checking.

A woman patient of dengue fever was brought to the Sir Ganga Ram hospital earlier this week, raising the number of cases of the disease registered in hospitals of Lahore during the ongoing season to 32.

"Dengue is spreading across the Punjab cities and in this season 79 patients have been registered in the province. At least 830 spots were identified where dengue larva was present during checking in the past couple of days," an official of the primary and secondary healthcare department said.

He said the Punjab government should launch anti-dengue measures to avoid a situation witnessed last year.

The dengue season has started in Punjab and surveillance aimed at curbing it should be started across the province, he added.

Following instructions from the provincial government, the monitoring wing of Punjab School Education Department has issued a notification advising all school administrations to start anti-dengue activities.

"The CEOs of all district health authorities and heads of schools have received orders to start dengue prevention activities in the schools. Similar instructors were also given to private schools," said Punjab Teachers Union General Secretary Rana Liaqat Ali.

All school heads were advised that a Zero Period should be scheduled daily to create awareness among the students about the disease and smog in the province.

The school heads were also asked to display banners, posters and charts with awareness messages in the classrooms and other parts of the schools.

They were advised to ensure cleanliness in and around the schools, especially toilets, water tanks and rooftops.

The school heads were asked to instruct the students to wear full sleeve shirts.

Health department spokesman Hamad Raza said the measures had been finalised as pre-monsoon rains were expected soon.

He said the department was prepared to counter dengue.

Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique recently held a meeting with the department's officials to review the dengue situation.

The official said the dengue surveillance had been increased and several measure had already been taken to cope with the risk.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2024.