Anti-dengue operations: Surveillance won’t stop during Eid holidays

LAHORE:

Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique on Friday ordered that the campaign against dengue be continued during Eid holidays.

“A large number of people visit graveyards on Eid. These should be cleaned before the holiday,” Rafique told a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Dengue Control. Additional Chief Secretary Syed Mubashir Raza, MPA Pir Ashraf, the Institute of Public Health dean and the chief entomologist attended the meeting.

The adviser was informed that 646 dengue fever cases have been reported in Karachi and three people have died from the fever there.

Rafique directed the departments concerned to make sure that the virus was not spread to the Punjab. He said surveillance of mosquito carrying dengue should continue at homes, graveyards and tyre shops.

Earlier, Gujranwala and Faisalabad commissioners, the Multan DCO and the Rawalpindi health EDO briefed the meeting through video link on anti-dengue measures. The adviser was told that recruitment of staff to check dengue fever had been completed in Lahore and Sheikhupura.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2015.