Failing to mosquitoes

Chakwal district government unable to curtail Dengue epidemic due to shortage of funds.

ISLAMABAD: Unprecedented spread of Dengue fever continued in the district of Chakwal and the provincial government was unable to curtail the epidemic due to paucity of funds.

Moreover, owing to lack of medical facilities in the city, majority of the Dengue fever patients were being forced to shift to hospitals in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

“Most of the patients in our hospitals are from Chakwal city and its suburbs, mainly from Dodyal,” said a health official from the capital, Monday.

Dengue fever cases have erupted in Chakwal after four years,” said another official from Chakwal.

He said major reasons behind its spread this year were human migration from areas where the virus was already active and secondly, the recent heavy rains which resulted in an increase of potential breeding sites for mosquitoes in the area.

Talking to the Express Tribune, Executive District Health Officer Chakwal, Dr Nasir Mahmood, who has recently taken charge, accepted that in the beginning their department was facing shortage of funds. But, he maintained that efforts were still made improve the situation.

“The health department took the support of local NGOs to collect funds and conduct fogging and spraying in the area, to break the intensity of the disease”, he added.

Similarly, Dr Farooq Ahmed who is working in the health department of Plan Pakistan, an NGO in Chakwal, reaffirmed EDO’s claims and said that various organisations had joined hands with the health department to battle the spread of Dengue.

Dr Mahmood added that the health department had already asked Government of Punjab to release funds, ‘which they have done recently and spread of the virus would be controlled within two weeks’.

He also acknowledged that no treatment facilities were available in the government hospitals of Chakwal and patients were being referred to Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

“However recently to treat Dengue fever patients, an isolation ward had been established in District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) Chakwal,” he added.

On the other hand, relatives of the patients were dissatisfied with the arrangements made by the government to tackle the epidemic and facilitate the patients.

“Government health department are doing nothing to facilitate the dengue fever patients,” said Shagufta Bibi, a resident of Chakwal, whose husband was tested positive of the virus and admitted in the isolation ward of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

“My husband’s condition was critical, I took him to one of the leading government hospitals in Chakwal but they refused to treat him
and straight away asked to take him to Rawalpindi”, she said.

Arsalan Raja, resident of Dodyal, said his wife was suspected of the virus and he had to bring her to Islamabad for the treatment. “There are no such facilities catering to Dengue patients in or around Chakwal,” he said.

Another resident of the area, Shazia Gulfaraz, said she brought her younger sister to Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Rawalpindi, who was a suspected patient of dengue fever.

“No measures are being taken to address this issue”, she said, reiterating claims of the other locals.

She further said, “Hailing from the less privileged class, it has become really difficult for people like us to bear the expenses of travelling to Rawalpindi.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2010.