Govt ready to launch awareness campaigns in province. PHOTO: FAZAL KHALIQ
PESHAWAR: With dengue virus recurrently reported in areas around the city, health experts have drawn attention to the indifference of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to the situation. However, these cases have not been confirmed and the government is now ready to roll out awareness campaigns.
Blame game
Talking to The Express Tribune, a senior government official of the health department said, “Giving autonomy to hospitals does not take away all responsibility from the government and I would term this indifference criminal negligence.”
Requesting anonymity, he said the government’s attitude of leaving hospitals at the mercy of the board of governors worked as long as patients needed care and treatment but the government had to take some ownership as far as the deadly dengue virus was concerned.
“The number of [reported] dengue patients reached over 850 in the hilly areas.” The health department official said though the virus had not been confirmed within the provincial capital, the government still needed to hold awareness campaigns and take precautionary measures to prevent its spread in Peshawar. He added, “Treatment is not the only cure and I do not remember the government carrying out a single awareness campaign this season.”
Situation at hospitals
Due to facilities at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), majority of the dengue patients have been treated there. “At least 110 people were brought into the hospital recently and while 46 of them are still admitted here; others were cured and discharged,” said KTH Public Relation Officer (PRO) Farhad Khan.
He said all 110 cases weretested positive for dengue and 95 cases belonged to Peshawar. “A majority of the patients were residents of Tehkal, Kohat Road, Ring Road and Hayatabad,” Farhad said. The rest were from Malakand.
He added private rooms were allocated to keep dengue patients in isolation. “Once their condition stabilises, they are shifted to medical A, B and C wards which have eight beds each, all reserved for dengue patients,” he said.
Farhad said none of the cases had proved to be fatal.
Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) was the next best medical facility available to dengue patients. According to HMC officials, the number of registered patients at the facility was 36. “All of them were discharged following treatment,” HMC PRO Tauheed Zulfiqar told The Express Tribune.
Lady Reading Hospital PRO Jamil Shah said only three patients were currently admitted to the hospital, waiting for their result from the laboratory which had their blood samples.
Govt response
The government, after receiving heavy criticism from health experts, has planned to finally act. It sent advertisements for awareness campaigns against dengue to the information department which, according to officials, have yet to be published.
Health Secretary Mushtaq Jadoon told The Express Tribune fumigation was not the solution to end dengue and even the World Health Organization had expressed serious concerns over its usage. “Fumigation kills larvae but at the same time pollutes fresh water bodies where these mosquitos breed,” said Jadoon.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2015.
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