Public health: ‘Dengue won’t be as bad this year’

‘20 cases and no deaths so far this season shows strategy is strong’.

LAHORE: The relatively few dengue cases so far this year show that the government has adopted the right strategy to deal with the disease and the outbreak this season will likely not become an epidemic.

Institute of Public Health Dean Prof Muaz Ahmed said this at a seminar at the IPH on Sunday, as government hospitals and medical schools held walks and seminars to mark Anti Dengue Day.

Some 25,000 cases and 350 deaths were reported in last year’s outbreak of the disease. Twenty cases and no deaths have been reported this season.

The Post Graduate Medical Institution and Lahore General Hospital issued a booklet on dengue symptoms, preventive measures and treatments that LGH Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Hassan, along with doctors and nurses, handed out to patients on Sunday.

They also arranged a walk led by PGMI Principal Prof Anjum Habib Vohra. He said that public awareness was a crucial component of the government’s anti-dengue strategy and this would hopefully prevent panic.

Students, staff and faculty of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) also staged a walk on Sunday in which Vice Chancellor Prof IA Naveed and Registrar Dr Asad Zaheer also participated.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2012.