Dengue outbreak: 11 more patients come to PIMS

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif reprimands officials for failing to stem the virus.

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD:

At least 11 fresh cases of suspected dengue fever were reported at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) during the last 48 hours.

Pims spokesperson Dr Ayesha Eshani said that of the 11 suspected dengue patients, eight were from Rawalpindi, two from Islamabad and one from Chakwal.

Sharing details of the patients from Rawalpindi, she said that Zaheer, 55, and Ambreen, 26, were from New Shakrial, Abdul Wahab, 35, from Pir Wadhai, Shamon, 15, from Nazimabad, , Mushtaq Butt, 60, from  Banni Chowk, Talha Umar, 15, from Satellite Town, M Ishaq, 59, from Dhok Kahsmirian and Muqadas, 25, from Fazal Town.

Dr Eshani said that almost 90 per cent of the dengue patients received by the Pims this year were from Rawalpindi.



CM tells off health officials

Annoyed by rising dengue cases in the garrison city, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday gave a piece of his mind to officials of the district administration and local leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) for their failure to stem the virus.

The CM, who is in Germany on an official visit, was speaking via video link to a meeting held at the commissioner’s office Rawalpindi. He asked them to be proactive and take immediate steps to control the menace.

An official who attended the meeting and requested anonymity told The Express Tribune that the chief minister snubbed the PML-N leaders including former member national assembly Muhammad Hanif Abbasi for not playing their role to create awareness among the masses about the disease. Despite instructions, reports about dengue cases from some cities of the province are a matter of concern,” the official quoted him as having said.

Shahbaz told the meeting that to control dengue, educational institutions, non-governmental organisations, traders and civil society should be involved to create awareness about precautionary and preventive measures against dengue.

The chief minister also directed the officials to launch a fresh cleanliness drive to remove and dispose of garbage and other rubbish from every nook and corner of the city to deny breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying the virus. He said that fumigation should also be carried out in areas where dengue was on the rise.

An official at the Punjab health department said that both private and public hospitals of the city were receiving a large number of dengue patients.

“If the health department had taken preventive measures when the first case was reported this year, the situation would not have been as dire as it is today,” he said, while asking not to be named.

The official said that fumigation has not been carried out in many areas in the city, which was contributing to rising dengue cases.

Provincial Health Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu, Provincial Labour Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, members of the national and provincial assemblies belonging to the PML-N, the Punjab Health secretary, Rawalpindi commissioner, Capital Development Authority chairman, Islamabad chief commissioner, Rawalpindi DCO, Rawalpindi Medical College principal, Prof Dr Waseem Akram, and others attended the meeting.

Sindhu told the chief minister that dengue cases in Rawalpindi increased after Eidul Azha, with 330 patients testing positive.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2013.