PESHAWAR: A girl and a boy died of dengue fever in Abbottabad on Saturday taking the death toll from the vector-borne disease in the province during the last two months to 10.

Dengue, which broke out in Tehkal village of Peshawar in early July, has spread to other parts of the province since.

According to a report of the Dengue Response Unit released on Saturday, Jamil Ahmad and Samina Bibi under treatment at the Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, for dengue died on Saturday morning.

Govt asks relevant depts to take steps to check spread of virus

The report said 1,178 suspected dengue patients visited government hospitals in the province during the last 24 hours and 185 of them tested positive for the mosquito-borne fever.

The dengue cases were reported in Khyber Teaching Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, and in Dera Ismail Khan, Buner, Mardan, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Swabi.

Spokesman for KTH Farhad Khan told Dawn that 290 patients were being treated for dengue free of charge at the hospital.

He said the patients were given free medicines and testing facility.

LRH director Dr Khalid Masud said the hospital had so far given free hospitalisation to 86 patients and 53 of them had been discharged for treatment.

“Two wards, one each for men and women, have been established for dengue patients in line with the protocols set forth by the hospital’s senior consultants,” he said.

The LRH director said the patients required the use of bed nets and Paracetamol for treatment.

Dr Matloob, head of the Mobile Health Units, Punjab, told Dawn that they had been working in collaboration with the KP government and had so far examined 2,000 suspected dengue cases.

“We have detected 150 positive cases during the screening camp before beginning their treatment,” he said.

Dr Matloob denied that his units had no coordination with the KP government.

“We have been working in close collaboration with the KP health department to control dengue,” he said.

Meanwhile, the provincial government issued instructions to the relevant departments for following the vigorous preventive and control measures to check the spread of dengue virus.

The instructions were issued to deputy commissioners, directorate general health services, district health offices, medical teaching institutions, district headquarters hospitals, Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar and Town Municipal Officers and Local Development Authorities.

The instructions were also sent to the public health engineering, education, communication and works, environment and irrigation departments, district and town nazims, members of the district councils, and public representatives.

According to a notification issued by the office of the chief secretary, the deputy commissioners will act as focal persons and coordinate with all relevant departments.

The DCs will be responsible for the implementation of the response plan with the support of all line departments.

The office of the director general (health) will provide the overall leadership on technical aspects of the epidemic response and will serve as technical resources centre for the epidemic.

It will also coordinate with all hospitals and health care providers regarding patient care by providing standard (WHO) guidelines /SoPs for case management, referral etc.

Under the instruction, it was the director general health office responsibility to collect data for epidemiological analysis, decision making and guiding response. It will also coordinate and keep liaison with the respective district health office and district control room.

Instructions for medical teaching institutions/hospitals/DHQs and other are to establish dengue information counter in prominent area and desk in the OPDs and emergency. Appoint trained nurses/paramedics at the fever desk.

The public sector hospitals are required to establish dengue treatment wards with proper ventilation and bed nets and ensuring availability of all necessary and emergency medicines required.

The hospitals’ administration is required to maintain proper medical record, patient history, and treatment charts duly signed by treating physicians and head of department.

The WSSP and local government department has been instructed to identification of hotspots such as stagnant water sources, safe disposal of solid and other risky community waste and cleanliness/clearance of conduits and other sites.

The public health engineering department will inspect all the water supply channels in affected union councils and apply corrective measure. It will also replace and re pair all the faulty supply lines immediately and will form teams to identify stagnant water resources.

The education department has been instructed to suspend morning assemblies, conduct daily awareness session in the schools under their jurisdiction utilising classes on a daily basis, and initiate process for inclusion of education material for epidemic prevention and control in the curriculum for school teachers and students.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2017