Feeling the chill: Dengue losing its grip in Rawalpindi

Three-day dengue awareness campaign among women launched.

RAWALPINDI:

With the total number of confirmed patients of dengue reaching as high as 674 since August, the epidemic is finally loosing its grip in Rawalpindi district.

Officials of the three major hospitals of Rawalpindi —Holy Family, Benazir Bhutto and District Headquarters — revealed on Thursday that the daily load of suspected dengue patients has dropped to 17 to 20 patients, from 30 to 40 in last week.

The health officials attributed the reduction in dengue cases to the drop in temperature.

“We are expecting that the hospitals will stop receiving more suspected patients by the end of the month,” said one health official.

He added that since August, the three hospitals have received 2,380 suspected dengue patients, of which around 1,700 were diagnosed with the disease.

A health official revealed that Rawal Town and Cantonment were the worst hit areas in Rawalpindi district, with 350 and 89 cases of dengue respectively. In the district’s union councils, UC-11 was the most affected area, from where over 50 confirmed patients were reported, the official added.

Meanwhile, the district administration announced a three-day dengue awareness campaign among women across the district.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Rawalpindi Saqib Zaffar said that lady health workers will conduct a door-to-door dengue awareness campaign, educating women on ways to protect their families from dengue. The health workers are also tasked to identify possible breeding grounds of dengue mosquitoes for fumigation, he said.

The DCO added that five fumigation machines, costing Rs2.8 million, are being used to conduct fumigation in rural localities.

The DCO said that 10 dispensaries in the city have been handed over to the health department following the devolution of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation.

The dispensaries will be adequately equipped and staffed to cope with any future dengue outbreak, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2011.