Disease control: Federal offices infested with dengue mosquito larvae

FIRs registered against depts over presence of mosquito larvae.

LAHORE:

Officers of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and the Health Department have lodged 20 FIRs in the last three days over the presence of dengue larvae in government offices and private establishments.

A team of three EPD officials and two health officers found dengue mosquito larvae at the Customs Department and Income Tax Department offices. A buildings supervisor of the Customs Department and a deputy director of the Income Tax Department were arrested and cases were registered against them under Sections 268 (public nuisance) and 278 (public health hazard) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Younas Zahid, the deputy director (environment), said that while Punjab government departments had mainly dealt with mosquito larvae under strict instructions from the top, there had been little or no anti-dengue efforts made at federal government departments. He said that FIRs had been lodged against staff at offices where they had been neglecting precautionary measures recommended by the EPD.

As many as 20 FIRs have been registered against government departments, housing societies, under-construction buildings and tyre workshops and godowns in the last three days by the officers of the environment protection department and the health department on finding the office premises containing dengue mosquitoes and larvae.

Cases have also been registered against the Agriculture Department, the (federal) Statistics Department, the Punjab University, Pakistan Air Force housing schemes, officials of the National Highway Authority at Babu Sabu Interchange and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office in Johar Town. FIRs have also been registered against the Arabian Lounge restaurant on Jail Road, at four construction sites for plazas in Gulberg, and at one workshop each on Bund Road and Abbott Road. A ceramics shops at Ferozepur Road and a stone factory in Gulberg have also been sealed. Some FIRs have also been registered under Section 188 of the Dengue Control Regulations 2011.

Hospitals

On Saturday, the team raided Lady Willingdon Hospital, Lady Aitchison Hospital, Mayo Hospital, Ganga Ram Hospital and d’Montmorency College of Dentistry. Dengue larvae were found at all five.

“We had to remove the water coolers installed at a mosque at Lady Aitchison Hospital. We also found areas with stagnant water and larvae at Ganga Ram Hospital and the dental hospital,” said Zahid.

Notices have been handed to the hospital medical superintendents to remove water and spray and fumigate the areas.

Eight teams comprising officials of various departments have been working in collaboration with the town municipal authorities to clear areas of dengue mosquitoes since April.

Javaid Iqbal, an EPD inspector working with Ravi and Data Gunj Baksh Town officials, said tens of areas were inspected daily. He said many of the areas assigned to him were “unhygienic, always containing larvae”.

EPD Secretary Saeed Iqbal Wahla said that the anti-dengue campaign would likely end on October 15, after which EPD officers would be assigned other duties.

DCO inspects

District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal and other officials paid surprise visits to four hospitals on Saturday to look at their anti-dengue arrangements.

The DCO praised arrangements at Mian Munshi Hospital, Mian Nawaz Sharif Hospital and the Punjab Institute of Mental Health.

However, he was displeased with the situation at Umer Hospital, a private institution, and ordered the arrest of a doctor.

He agreed to let the doctor go after he pledged to take measures to prevent the growth of dengue mosquitoes at the hospital.

The DCO was accompanied on his tour by Special Adviser to the Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique, the executive district officer for health, and dengue expert Sajjad Hussain Dara.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2012.