Health Dept urged to resume disease alerts

Doctors say seasonal chart helped prevent outbreaks.

LAHORE:

The Health Department has been urged to resume its practice of preparing a seasonal chart of potential epidemics and sending it to all public hospitals in the province.

The department used to prepare one every year to give health professionals working in public sector hospitals a schedule of when seasonal diseases hit and what steps could be taken to control them.

The chart was in the form of a calendar divided into three quarters  March to May, June to September and October to February.

“In the Seasonal Alert Health Calendar 2009, dengue was in the high alert column at the start of all three quarters.

Steps were taken and insecticide sprayed and the disease was largely controlled,” said an official of the Health Department on the condition of anonymity. No seasonal alert calendar was prepared for 2011 and neither has one been prepared for next year, he added. A doctor employed by the Health Department said that the calendar was particularly useful in remote areas.

“The doctors in far-off THQs [tehsil headquarters hospitals] and DHQs [district headquarters hospitals] found it really helpful. They should make them again, especially considering a severe dengue outbreak is expected next year,” he said.

Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) General Secretary Dr Izhar Chaudhary said the Health Department’s seasonal alert for 2010 put dengue as a “high alert disease”, so the department had no excuse for not taking early preventive measures like insecticide spray in 2011.

“The seasonal charts are helpful and should be prepared and sent to all public sector hospitals,” he said. He said the charts should be displayed in prominent places at hospitals to raise awareness about various seasonal diseases.

Dr Mubashir Malik, the health director for the Centre for Communicable Diseases, told The Express Tribune that seasonal alert charts had not been published because of a lack of funds, but the Health Department still made assessments about potential seasonal outbreaks and took preventive measures when needed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2011.