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November 09, 2006
A stitch in time
These days the country is going through a dengue fever paranoia. From e-mails to text messages, everyone is passing on information they think can be useful to their friends and family. Newspapers have been publishing special reports and articles and the private TV channels are having a field day interviewing victims’ families, doctors, health officials and politicians.
Suddenly it has become a matter of life and death for the whole country. Is it really that bad or have we just hyped it up? One thing is definite, people who love publicity have found another opportunity to utter a few words of advice on the different TV channels and thus enjoy getting into the limelight.
No doubt dengue fever is a life threatening disease but is it the worst or the most life threatening thing in Karachi? So far in the city of 14 million people, about 240 people have been diagnosed with the fever and 26 people have been reported dead during the last five months.
Consider this, 50 per cent of those dying of natural causes in the country fall prey to cardiovascular diseases, and in just a single leading government-run cardiovascular hospital of the city, there are more than 100 deaths each month due to the illness. The rampant spread of cardiovascular diseases is not due to the bite of a particular mosquito, but the deadly pollution that has engulfed the city, plus the unhealthy eating habits compounded by the consumption of adulterated foods. No hue and cry is raised regarding what we now consider a ‘normal’ situation, nor are any steps taken to reduce pollution in the city or to go after those who poison people for their own profit.
Malaria, also spread by mosquitoes, has never prompted the authorities to start fumigation campaigns or launch public awareness ventures to enlighten them about preventive measures. All actions, it seems, are a reaction to the media hype created about this fever, which is stimulated by the exotic name of the disease.
Diarrhoea is also counted among the deadly diseases of the country, especially for young children. Polluted water is the biggest cause of the disease and recent incidents in Hyderabad and adjoining areas have demonstrated once again its lethal effects. But not much is done by either the government or the sufferers to tackle this problem.
Besides giving utmost attention to the dengue fever, focus should also be placed on those perennial diseases that affect people irrespective of weather conditions. Provision of clean drinking water should be the top priority of every provincial government because in the long run it will save huge expenditure on medical treatment and hospital occupancy.
A good thing that has happened with this focus on dengue fever is an appraisal of our health facilities. Unfortunately they have been found to be grossly inadequate, as in the first few months the concerned authorities could not even set up proper blood screening facilities and samples were sent to Islamabad for testing.
The father of a 16-year-old girl, who died due to this fever, told a private TV channel that he paid Rs200,000 to a private hospital in medical bills and the report confirming dengue fever arrived after the girl had expired. Just like the earthquake and many other calamities, we could not cope with the situation initially, and by the time we did up it was too late for those who required immediate attention.
After the earthquake, there was clear consensus on the need to drastically revamp our disaster management apparatus and fine tune our medical facilities. The dengue fever scare has clearly shown that we have not taken even the first step towards adequate preparedness.
Come winter the dengue virus scare will wane off and everyone will forget about it. Next summer if the threat resurfaces, we will again start from scratch because in the absence of long-term and properly thought-out plans and adequate allocations in the budget for health, we will always be found short of the desired level of preparedness.
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