No fuel, no drive: Possible dengue outbreak expected in city as KMC falls short on funds

The drive’s vehicles are stranded across the city with no fuel and 36 have broken down.

KARACHI: A possible dengue outbreak is expected in the city as the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) put an end to its fumigation drive due to a lack of funds, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The KMC had started anti-dengue drives across the city, however, most of its vehicles are stranded in different areas as there are no funds to fuel the vehicle and continue the drive.

The president of KMC’s CBA union, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah, told The Express Tribune that 36 vehicles out of 60 vehicles were broken. “If the authorities do not issue funds for the fuel, it would spread the fatal dengue fever,” he added. Health experts fear that Karachi as well as other cities in the province might face regular outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease soon.



Sindh Private Hospitals and Clinic Welfare Association’s general-secretary Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro told The Express Tribune that dengue cases were increasing in the season thus he stressed the need for serious preventive measures to be taken by the civic and health agencies with a responsible community response to avert a possible outbreak.

“The quoted figure pertaining to the dengue patients is not accurate, in reality the figure is much higher,” he claimed. “The government officials, especially in rural Sindh, need to be more organised,” Shoro said. He blamed the water stagnation combined with inadequate civic and community response as the factors behind the situation.

He said that since laboratory tests for dengue were not carried out the reporting was not accurate. Reportedly, two more persons have died of dengue, taking the death toll to 20, according to the provincial health department. According to dengue surveillance cell spokesperson, both victims were women, a 67-year-old resident of Nazimabad and a 20-year-old resident of Hyderabad.

According to the data, 23 new cases of dengue were reported on Monday in Karachi while 2,984 cases have been reported since January. At least eight new cases were reported in the rest of the province, where so far 442 cases have been reported.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2013.