Dengue surveillance: Health dept vows action against those skipping cabinet meet

Health adviser directs authorities to start surveillance activities.

LAHORE:

The Health Department will write a letter expressing dismay to the departments that did not attend the Cabinet Committee meeting on dengue control on Tuesday.

The meeting was chaired by Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique who said the Chief Minister’s Secretariat would also be informed about the departments that had skipped the meeting.

Rafique directed all departments of the provincial government to start dengue surveillance activities in line with the approved standard operating procedures (SOPs).

He said surveillance should be carried out both indoor and outdoor.

He also directed the Town Response Committees to start anti-dengue activities ahead of the rainy season.

Rafique warned the departments against negligence during the drive.

“The Met Office has informed the Health Department that 20 per cent more rains than normal are expected this year. We have to remain alert and that is what the health adviser told us at the meeting,” an official of the Health Department told The Express Tribune.

He said seven cases of dengue had been reported in the province this year and patients had been treated and discharged from hospitals.

He said spray to kill the dengue larva continued in areas prone to the dengue virus. They included Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura and Faisalabad.

The adviser also ordered larvaciding in graveyards, under-construction buildings and godowns.

Health Secretary Ijaz Munir informed the meeting that hospitals had been instructed to treat dengue patients as per the prescribed SOPs. He said hospitals had also been ordered to form High Dependency Units (HDUs).

Munir said health executive district officers (EDOs) had been asked to start inspecting foggers and spray machines and keep a stock of medicines to treat dengue fever.

Health Department Director General Zahid Pervaiz told the meeting that training sessions had been organised for doctors at district headquarters hospitals and tehsil headquarters in order to provide better health services to dengue patients.

He said the department had sufficient supply of medicines and anti-dengue spray.

Officials from the School and Higher Education Department informed the meeting about the activities planned to create awareness among students and teachers about the dengue virus.

Local Government Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik presented a report on the dengue surveillance in graveyards, junkyards, and under-construction buildings.

Chief Minister’s Dengue Research Cell In charge Dr Waseem Akram said that in the wake of predictions about more rains this season, dengue larva should be eliminated before it grew into mosquitoes. He said that better dengue surveillance could help reduce possibility of larva growing into mosquitoes.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2014.