KARACHI, Oct 23: The Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi chapter, on Monday demanded that the city government should declare emergency in the metropolis and put the authorities concerned to control severity of the dengue fever’s spread during Eid holidays.
PMA General Secretary Dr Qaiser Sajjad said that the admission of 68 persons till Monday evening in Karachi was alarming for many other cities of Sindh as well as the country, as millions of people are leaving for their native towns for Eid, which may cause spread of the diseases to different cities.
He suggested that fumigation drive should be started in and around the airport, railway stations and bus stands. He criticized the EDO Health for going on Eid holidays in such a sensitive situation when the entire city was facing threats of fatal diseases. He said that present figures on deaths due to viral haemorrhagic dengue fever were miserable on the eve of Eid.
But beyond it, the disease is turning to be an epidemic disease that could claim more lives and as such emergency should be declared in the metropolis at the earliest by cancelling leaves of the officials concerned and staff and put them on duties, he demanded.
Dr Sajjad said that setting up of isolated wards at hospitals for patients, suffering from dengue fever, were nothing more than wastage of time and funds.
The PMA leader said adopting preventive measures was the only way to avoid possibility of dengue spread, while removal of stagnant water at every hook and corner at parks, streets, houses, road, nullahs was the only way to stop breeding of particular mosquitoes.The ongoing fumigation was not enough for such thick populated city like Karachi, therefore it must be spread to every part of the city and repeated several times to achieve 100 per cent target. He pointed out that open wells of roadside nurseries, overflowing gutters, stagnant water around car service stations, leakages of pipelines and sewerage lines were the areas where the mosquitoes bred.
Dr Sajjad said that complaints about refusal from conducting tests at Civil Hospital and Jinnah Medical Postgraduate College were received, adding the government should also take notice of the incident at earliest to facilitate poor masses.—PPI
