Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has instructed several government departments to establish camps in their offices to conduct the diagnostic Complete Blood Count (CBC) test for dengue, though their staffers have no medical background, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The chief minister has been chairing daily morning meetings on the dengue crisis. At one meeting last week, he directed at least five departments to buy CBC machines, train their staff and set up diagnostic camps, sources said.
The sources said that the Higher Education Department and School Education Department had not complied with the instructions. They had offered their staff for assistance in the insecticide spray campaign and suggested that schools be shut down till the threat subsides.
The Agriculture and Irrigation departments also refused to comply with the directions, said the sources, saying that apart from the fact that they were busy combating problems associated with rains and floods, rules of procedure barred them from activities meant to be in the Health Department’s domain.
The Environment Protection Department, however, purchased an automatic haematology analyser for Rs730,000, conducting a two-hour training session for staff, and set up a dengue camps at its office at the National Hockey Stadium last week.
Some 200 people have been visiting the camp each day to get tested, said EPD staff posted at the camp. They were conducting CBC tests, though none of them have clinical experience.
Dr Mehfoozul Rehman, the chairman of the Blood Transfusion Authority, told The Express Tribune that only clinical pathologist should be operating the machines and conducting the blood test.
Environmental Protection Agency Director General Maqsood Ahmad Lak said that Sharif had directed the EPD to install the machines and he sought regular reports on the camp at the daily meeting. Asked whether the EPD could conduct clinical activities, he said, “Maybe in an emergency.” He said that Health Department staff were also working at the camp. Asked whether the rules allowed the EPD to sanction the purchase of medical equipment, he did not comment.
Dr Naeem of the city government’s health department, who was supervising the camp, said that the money spent on the camp would have been better spent on improving the nearby United Christian Hospital and Gulberg dispensary. He said that both Health Department and EPD officials were working at the camp, but EPD staffers were operating the blood analyser. Punjab government spokesman Senator Pervez Rashid was not available for comment.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2011.
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