Deadly virus: Dengue toll rises to 11 after two more deaths
Dr Shakeel Aamir Mullick says around 750 cases of dengue fever had been registered in different hospitals this year
KARACHI:
The mosquito-borne dengue virus claimed two more lives in the city during the last three days, raising the number of deaths in the province from the deadly disease to 11 this year.
Karachi health services director Dr Zafar Ejaz confirmed the deaths on Saturday. Twenty-year-old Muhammad Faraz was suffering from dengue fever and passed away on Saturday after being treated at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for two days, said Ejaz. A day earlier, 27-year-old Noorunissa, who was diagnosed with dengue fever and admitted to a private hospital located at Stadium Road on October 19, failed to survive.
The Sindh Dengue Prevention and Control Programme's focal person, Dr Shakeel Aamir Mullick, said that around 750 cases of dengue fever had been registered in different hospitals this year. Other officials asserted that the number of deaths and dengue cases could be much higher as there was no mechanism in place to record the actual data, while the coordination between the government departments, including the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, health services directorate and provincial dengue control programme, were non-existent.
"The dengue epidemic could be at its worst this year," said an official at the provincial dengue prevention and control programme. "However, the lack of rain this year had helped the provincial government to veil its indifference."
"The Sindh finance department has yet to release the allocated funds for the programme to carry out its responsibilities of awareness and prevention," he added.
Mullick, however, blamed the public and private hospital managements for refusing to share information with his department.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2014.
The mosquito-borne dengue virus claimed two more lives in the city during the last three days, raising the number of deaths in the province from the deadly disease to 11 this year.
Karachi health services director Dr Zafar Ejaz confirmed the deaths on Saturday. Twenty-year-old Muhammad Faraz was suffering from dengue fever and passed away on Saturday after being treated at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for two days, said Ejaz. A day earlier, 27-year-old Noorunissa, who was diagnosed with dengue fever and admitted to a private hospital located at Stadium Road on October 19, failed to survive.
The Sindh Dengue Prevention and Control Programme's focal person, Dr Shakeel Aamir Mullick, said that around 750 cases of dengue fever had been registered in different hospitals this year. Other officials asserted that the number of deaths and dengue cases could be much higher as there was no mechanism in place to record the actual data, while the coordination between the government departments, including the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, health services directorate and provincial dengue control programme, were non-existent.
"The dengue epidemic could be at its worst this year," said an official at the provincial dengue prevention and control programme. "However, the lack of rain this year had helped the provincial government to veil its indifference."
"The Sindh finance department has yet to release the allocated funds for the programme to carry out its responsibilities of awareness and prevention," he added.
Mullick, however, blamed the public and private hospital managements for refusing to share information with his department.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2014.