'Ineffective' strategy fuels dengue surge in Pindi

Owing to the ineffective approach of the Rawalpindi Health Department, the dengue mosquito infestation is rapidly worsening across the city.

Even areas previously designated as "cleared" hotspots have been found to contain significant amounts of dengue larvae in independent third-party surveys.

Following the department's failure to manage the dengue larvae issue, responsibility has been entirely shifted to female dengue workers, resulting in the dismissal of several of them.

After the termination of 132 workers, notices have been issued for the dismissal of a further seven women and three men, with additional terminations anticipated. However, neither the District Health Authority (DHA) nor the District Health Office has held any senior officials accountable for this failure. Instead, the focus has been on dismissing lower-level field staff, issuing show-cause notices, suspensions, and imposing salary deductions.

Despite the height of the dengue season, the Health Department has failed to provide essential resources, such as free government-issued mobile phones, SIM cards, and internet access, to sanitation workers—despite millions of rupees being allocated for this purpose.

This lack of provision has severely hampered the workers' ability to carry out online dengue surveillance and reporting. A dengue emergency has now been declared in both public and private hospitals.

According to the Health Department's latest data, the total number of dengue cases in the district has risen to 570. In the past 24 hours alone, 25 patients were admitted to public hospitals and 52 to private hospitals, pushing the total number of patients in private hospitals to 550.

Across the district, 1,499 teams are currently working on dengue prevention. Due to poor reporting, inadequate inspections, and widespread absenteeism, 132 workers have been dismissed.

In total, 5.22 million homes have been inspected, with larvae found in 149,878 of them. In the inspection of 1.39m hotspots, larvae were found in 19,917 locations. To date, 4,154 cases have been registered, 1,759 properties sealed, and fines amounting to Rs13.5m have been imposed on 3,374 property owners.

Health experts have predicted that the peak of the dengue outbreak will continue until November 15. Despite increased efforts, all attempts to control the spread of the disease have been unsuccessful.

While additional dengue beds have been added to hospitals, the situation remains dire. Among those summoned for dismissal are Shamaila Kausar, Sadaf Naz, Adeela, Saima Amin, Farah Yasir, Sadaf Bibi, Tanzila Mubeen, Ziafat Mehmood, Asim Shehzad, and Ali Raza Naqvi.