Pulling together: ‘Coordinated efforts needed to control dengue’

CM’s adviser on health chairs meeting of Cabinet Committee for Dengue Control.


Our Correspondent July 08, 2014

LAHORE:


Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafiq said on Monday that more robust efforts were required from all government departments in accordance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in order to control dengue fever.


He was presiding over a meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Dengue Control. Rafiq said strict monitoring at the grassroots was essential to achieve better results. He called the overall dengue situation in the Punjab satisfactory. However, Rafiq said the chances of dengue breeding had increased due to the monsoon rains.



Officers from various departments briefed the committee on their dengue control steps. The health secretary said seven dengue cases had been confirmed in the Punjab in 2014. Two of the patients were from Lahore. He said all the patients had made a full recovery.

He also briefed the participants on the indoor and outdoor dengue surveillance measures. The environment, labour, cooperatives, auqaf and school education secretaries also spoke about dengue surveillance in graveyards, junkyards, tyre shops, factories, commercial plazas, and at construction sites. They elaborated on the awareness campaigns planned for schools and colleges as well as mosques and shrines. The committee decided that the lady health workers (LHWs) getting a Rs7,000 salary would get an additional Rs100 daily honorarium for performing dengue surveillance duties. The chief minister’s approval was sought for the decision.

Mobility for LHWs

It was also decided that the district coordination officers (DCOs) in the dengue-sensitive districts would provide conveyance for LHWs for dengue surveillance. Rafiq said volunteers assisting with dengue control measures would be issued special cards.

He said since dengue had become a social problem, the community should also fulfill its responsibility to counter it.

He said a sticker would be pasted on any house where dengue larvae were reported and an FIR lodged against the owner of any commercial site where the larvae were found. He said the government had adopted a zero-tolerance policy in dengue control efforts and tardiness would not be tolerated from any department.

Punjab Assembly members Nawaz Chohan, Chaudhry Muhammad Akram, Kiran Imran Dar, Pir Ashraf, Health Parliamentary Secretary Khwaja Imran Nazir, Health Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir, secretaries and senior officers of environment, auqaf, cooperative, labour, forestry and fisheries, schools education, higher education, agriculture, irrigation, police and the Special Branch attended. Institute of Public Health Dean Professor Muaz Ahmad, Chief Entomologist Professor Wasim Akram, Dr Somia Iqtidar, member of Dengue Expert Advisory Group, and DCOs of Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura and Faisalabad also participated in the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2014.

 

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