PIMS: A breeding ground for dengue

Attendants spending nights at hospital lawns suffer mosquito bites daily.

ISLAMABAD:

Conditions at the capital’s largest government hospital, the bustling Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), are ripe for the spread of dengue. The lack of a proper water drainage and waste collection system threaten families who spend their nights in the open within the hospital premises.

The hospital grounds are at a severe risk of a dengue outbreak as every time it rains, puddles of water remain on hospital grounds for days, along with the garbage disposed of by attendants of patients — potential breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes.

The hospital administration appears satisfied with its current anti-dengue campaign — hanging banners containing useful information and establishing isolation wards for dengue-positive patients — and is yet to notice the dengue-prone conditions surrounding the hospital premises.

“What more can happen to us poor people, we are already suffering from a number of miseries,” said Arshad Hussain, an attendant who, along with his three family members, is spends the night in one of the lawns at Pims. The family has come from Chakwal to treat a loved one suffering from urologic disease.

“After sunset, it becomes difficult to stay under the tress because of the mosquitoes but we don’t have a choice. Every day my three-year-old boy wakes up with several mosquito bites,” he said.

Khursheed, another attendant, said “Doctors do not allow us to stay inside the inpatient wards and as we have nowhere else to go, we sleep on the hospital lawns”.

“Mosquito nets are of little use as we cannot keep our movement restricted and we cannot afford the expensive anti-mosquito lotions,” he said.

Meanwhile, talking to The Express Tribune, a senior medical specialist at Pims, wishing anonymity, said “It is a fact that attendants and visitors are at risk of being infected with dengue but in fact, even people inside the building are not safe”.

He said that in various wards, water accumulates as many of the taps are leaking which can also serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Despite several attempts, Dr Ayesha, the official Pims spokesperson, could not be reached for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2013.