KARACHI: Practical steps to control dengue spread spelled out
KARACHI, Oct 19: Presently Karachi is in the grip of dengue fever. The number of patients arriving hospitals is on the rise with every passing day and some 20 deaths have already been reported. The fear and panic is growing due to the lack of awareness of the disease and the slow response being given by the health and civic authorities to cope with the situation.
Despite all fear and dread, this preventable disease is turning into an epidemic. Through joint and coordinated efforts by the city government, health department and citizens, Karachi could be made a dengue-free city.
The one-word solution to dengue prevention is ‘cleanliness’.
The Aedes Aegypti, a mosquito responsible for the infection, needs to be eliminated through a forceful attack with pesticide on its breeding grounds, i.e. ponds and puddles of water, neglected water-filled containers and basins, dirty and damp places, etc.
For this purpose, a vigorous cleanliness drive at individual and collective level, supplemented by an aggressive fumigation drive, has to be launched immediately.
To deny the mosquito breed, people should keep water drums, pails and other containers well covered all the time.
Sides of water containers should be cleaned and scrubbed at least once a week as mosquito eggs are usually attached to these surfaces. Old tires should be disposed of. Water inside flower vases should be changed at least once a week. Spouts and drains should be cleaned to prevent accumulation of water and all used cans and bottles must be disposed of.
A successful anti-dengue drive needs formation of volunteer teams at union council level which should visit every household, carry out fumigation inside, distribute leaflets and other printed literature amongst citizens and monitor general cleanliness in streets.
The role of media is also very crucial. Presenting informative programmes, discussions, documentaries and messages will greatly help motivate citizens to keep their houses clean and carry out spray.
The city government has already launched fumigation campaign at town level using spray machine-mounted vehicles. However, there is a need to broaden the scope of this drive by engaging councillors and community workers so that narrow streets and lanes left out in the drive could also be covered through smaller spray machines.
Such fumigation drives do not give the desired results in the areas where overflowing gutter keep the streets and lanes inundated with sewage most often. There is a need to observe a special cleanliness week in the city the specific objective of getting such areas cleaned once and for all. All available resources should be mobilised for the purpose.
The health department should establish a hotline to provide guidance to patients and their relatives. Despite being one of the biggest cities of the world, Karachi lacks a modern pathological laboratory in the government sector to identify various types of viruses and diseases at one place. Local doctors have no choice but to send blood samples of viral fever patients to Islamabad or refer them to some other private labs. In many cases, patients are referred to private hospitals although their charges are not affordable for the poor and middle class people.
The major public sector hospitals like the JPMC and CHK must have a modern and well equipped diagnostic laboratory of their own.
The provincial health authorities should take urgent steps in this regard by allocating adequate funds, mobilising all resources and involving philanthropists, corporate sector and other stakeholders, like the federal government and CDGK, to meet the challenge.
All these measures are possible to be taken only if there is a will and determination.—PPI
