Dengue prevention: Commissioner orders action against shopkeepers if they fail to comply

Shoaib Siddiqui addressed meeting on dengue prevention, insists on fumigation.

KARACHI: Stern action will be taken against those shopkeepers who do not cooperate with the officials in preventing dengue, announced commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui on Tuesday. 

The commissioner said that it was the high time that serious action be taken for dengue prevention. Officials in Karachi should seal tyre shops that neglect government orders, he said, while addressing a meeting on dengue awareness and hurdles for preventive measures.”These tyre shops must be monitored and supervised regularly.” The officials discussed the role of guppy fish, which is very crucial in preventing dengue and quoted that over 40,000 fish were available at Karachi Zoo at present.

The menace of dengue cannot be controlled unless the public is aware of it, the officials agreed. “We can easily overcome the issue if people at large are fully aware of the disease,” said the commissioner. He further said that the government will not have any problems next year if serious measures are taken this year.

The commissioner directed tyre manufacturing companies to make sure that fumigation is taking place in all factories, godowns and shops. Siddiqui stressed that coordination between departments was very crucial in this regard, adding that the commissioner office should be contacted in any case of negligence or any complaints. Meanwhile, on the direction of the health secretary Ikramullah Dharejo, a workshop titled ‘Dengue Clinical Management and Diagnosis’ was held at Civil hospital.

In the last two months in Sindh, 26 people have died of dengue virus while 24 were deaths were in Karachi alone. So far this year, the death toll of dengue patients has crossed 4,300 in Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th,2013.