Public health: Cabinet committee reviews dengue measures

‘Drainage work must be completed before monsoon season’.

LAHORE: Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique has directed the authorities concerned to complete drainage work and remove stagnant water from empty plots in housing schemes before the start of the monsoon season.

Presiding over a cabinet committee meeting to review measures taken for the prevention and control of dengue on Tuesday, Rafique said that government departments had effectively controlled the dengue mosquito population.

Rafique directed the departments to rectify the problems pointed out by public representatives like silted drains and standing water and garbage piles in open places. He urged the public not to throw shopping bags and solid waste in canals and drains to ensure the smooth flow of water. He directed officials to improve cleanliness in vegetable markets. He said that dengue surveillance teams must pay special attention to tyre shops.

The cabinet committee was given briefings on the measures taken by the departments. The committee was told that dengue larvae had been detected and destroyed inside eight houses and two open places in Data Gunj Bakhsh Town, Aziz Bhatti Town, Nishter Town, Wagha Town and Shalimar Town.

The meeting was told that doctors and paramedics from 18 districts had been trained to treat dengue while arrangements for the training of medical professionals from the other 18 districts of the province had been finalised.

The Education Department, with help from the Punjab Education Foundation, distributed booklets about dengue at 48,000 schools, including 20 million booklets at government schools and 10 million at private schools.

Representatives of the Lahore Cantonment and Walton Cantonment Boards informed the meeting of the steps they have taken to control dengue in collaboration with the city government.