PESHAWAR: The number of patients diagnosed with dengue fever is increasing with each passing day in the provincial capital as 79 more tested positive for the disease which is spread by a mosquito-borne disease.
The Health Department has so far confirmed only two casualties from the fever but a local politician belonging to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Arbab Khizer Hayat, has alleged that the dengue virus has taken more lives than the official toll.
He belongs to Peshawar’s Tehkal Bala, where the dengue virus has once again affected the population and many of the people have been hospitalized.The PMLN leader said the government came out of hibernation and announced to send some teams of health experts to the affected areas at time when the virus had spread to every house in Tehkal Bala, Tehkal Payan, University Town, Pawaki, Spina Warai and its adjoining villages.
“Even now when the virus has become a serious threat to the local population and the disease has spread to each home, we could not see the health experts or their medicines in the most affected areas,” Arbab Khizer Hayat complained.
He said the government and its Health Department knew that the dengue virus affected certain areas in Peshawar every year in September and October but despite that, they deliberately ignored these areas.
“The government and its Health Department is always waiting for the pandemic so that they can have funds and nobody makes them accountable,” he said.Attaullah Khan, a spokesman for the provincial Health Department, on the other hand, said the department was aware of the situation and had, therefore, taken appropriate measures to prevent its spread to other areas.
He said, unlike the past, the situation was under control and only two patients died of the disease but they also had other health complications.The spokesman said 1081 patients had been diagnosed with the virus in Peshawar thus far and there were only 36 active cases in the district.
He said that only 136 patients had been hospitalised to date of whom five were admitted to hospitals in the last 24 hours.The spokesman said 24 dengue patients were in the hospitals right now, and they were being looked after by the staff.