Airborne threat: Punjab government braces for dengue

LAHORE: Health Department officials said on Wednesday that 11 cases of dengue fever had been recorded in the Punjab during the year. It was also revealed that no dengue fever case had been recorded during the current season in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Dengue. Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique directed government departments to continue dengue surveillance during Eid. He instructed officials to eradicate mosquito breeding ponds and puddles from commercial areas. Rafique directed the officials to make the Town Response Committees more efficient. He instructed them to include non-governmental organisations in dengue surveillance drives in their towns. Rafique directed officials to focus on the dengue prone localities in Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Multan. He said shortcomings mentioned in the Special Branch report should be rectified and larva samples should be sent to the Institute of Public Health to be evaluated. Rafique said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had been monitoring dengue control efforts. Health Secretary Dr Ejaz Munir said that no change was expected in the situation as weather was not conductive to dengue breeding. Munir said that dengue surveillance would continue during monsoon as dengue mosquitoes breed during the rainy season.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2014.