PESHAWAR: Despite aggressive campaign launched by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab governments against the mosquito-borne disease, dengue virus on Wednesday infected 71 more people in Peshawar and Mardan.
According to an official statement released by the deputy commissioner’s office, of the 71 new patients diagnosed with dengue, 41 were admitted to the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), 13 to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), 12 to the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) and three to the Naseerullah Babar Teaching Hospital in Peshawar.
Two patients were diagnosed with dengue in the Mardan Medical Complex (MMC). However, sources in KTH and LRH told The News the number of patients tested positive was higher than the official figures.
According to the official statement, 664 patients were earlier admitted in different hospitals but 366 of them were discharged and now only 292 patients with dengue positive were under treatment in the hospitals in Peshawar and seven in MMC. All the dengue patients admitted to Peshawar hospitals belong to Tehkal, Warsak Road and Pishtakhara localities of the provincial capital.
Also, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan called a meeting of KP’s top leadership to his Banigala residence in Islamabad to make a strategy to curb the dengue outbreak in the province. Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, Health Minister Shahram Tarakai, Additional Chief Secretary Muhammad Azam Khan and Secretary Health Abid Majeed attended the meeting in Islamabad.
They approved Rs144 million for the Director General Health Services KP to make effective use of the funds for eradication and surveillance of the virus. Out of Rs144 million, Rs55 million has been allocated for implantation of vector control interventions, Rs50 million for strengthening case management services of dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever cases and Rs39 million for dengue surveillance.
Apart from this amount, a government official said Rs50 million has been released to the provincial Information Department for awareness campaign in print and electronic media and Rs30 million to the deputy commissioner Peshawar for fight against the dengue virus.
In the Islamabad meeting, a dengue response unit was approved with Dr Faisal Shahzad as its focal person. It was also decided to recruit 17 entomologists for the province and set up 24 hours helpline desk in all the public sector hospitals of the province for providing information to the public regarding dengue.
According to an official, the Health Department demanded Rs11 million from Finance Department, saying Rs3 billion was earmarked for the integrated programme, but only Rs3.7 million was released to the programme meant to fight against dengue. The official said that Rs15 million was earmarked for the programme in the fiscal budget 2017-18.
Interestingly, it was almost three months ago when the district Health Department had complained about insufficient funds for the dengue and malaria programme and issued warning about dengue outbreak in the province, if timely measures were not taken.
“It is very unfortunate as the government is now wasting millions of rupees in useless campaign but nobody bothered to take notice when a high-level inquiry committee highlighted serious irregularities and corruption charges in the Malaria Control Programme,” a senior government official told The News on condition of anonymity. The government has also decided to run a drive against dengue virus on the pattern of anti-polio campaign by involving polio staff and lady health workers in the affected areas for eradication of dengue virus and its larvae.
Meanwhile, Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Saqib Raza Aslam along with his assistant commissioners led the teams involved in their vigorous campaign against dengue in Tehkal and Pishtakhara areas of the city. Besides running awareness campaign and provision of mosquito repellent lotion, the teams went door to door and continued spraying inside houses in the three union councils where the dengue first infected residents.
The district administration also arrested 158 people from different areas of the city for not following directives of the government of removing old tires on rooftops of their shops. The provincial Education Department also started awareness campaign regarding dengue virus in schools and colleges.
Besides, the KP government, the three mobile health units sent by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif continued providing services to the people of three union councils.
Since Saturday, the doctors and other health experts, led by Dr Muhammad Farrukh Sultan, additional director general health services Punjab, are providing services of OPD, screening and investigations to the patients. Dr Farrukh Sultan said they had examined 2,632 patients since Saturday, of which 595 were tested and 175 of them tested positive. He said dengue experts were called from Rawalpindi who trained doctors in HMC.
A former provincial minister and senior leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Amanullah Haqqani appreciated the services provided by the doctors of Punjab and their mobile health units but complained that the patients seen by the mobile health units or those who tested positive are not admitted in the government-run hospitals. He said the provincial government should appreciate and support the doctors who had come from Punjab.
Our Mansehra correspondent adds: At least 21 suspected patients of dengue have been hospitalised in the district as health authorities have initiated awareness sessions about the deadly disease.
“We have admitted 21 patients with dengue symptoms at an isolation ward despite lack of bedding capacity at the hospital,” Dr Javed Tanoli, the medical superintendent of King Abdullah Teaching Hospital, told reporters.
He said the hospital had been under construction after it developed cracks in the 2005 earthquake, but even then an isolation ward was set up for the dengue patients. “In view of the prevailing situation about dengue in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, we have spared more space for accommodating patients here in case of an emergency,” said Tanoli.
The district health department has also launched an awareness campaign where students and teachers at schools are being educated about how to curb possible outbreak of dengue in the district.
Our Khar correspondent adds: Dengue continued to spread to more areas as two persons were tested positive for the virus in Bajaur Agency, an official said. Medical Superintendent of the Agency Headquarters Hospital Dr Quddus Afridi confirmed the cases. He said the two patients, Attaur Rehman and Shakeel, had contracted the virus in Karachi and Rawalpindi. The doctor said that the patients were being kept in an isolation ward at the hospital.
