RAWALPINDI: The Holy Family Hospital (HFH) received 10 dengue patients from Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Thursday while the total number of dengue patients in the city’s three government-run hospitals rose to 33.

Doctors said over 60pc of patients are coming from Rawalpindi city, and the number of suspected dengue patients from Islamabad has also increased.

All three hospitals – HFH, Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital – have established dengue fever counters on directives from the Punjab government, they said.

These counters provide prompt healthcare services to suspected dengue patients and all the necessary medicines are available with hospital dispensaries.

The HFH dengue ward received 10 patients, of which four have tested positive for dengue. Dengue tests for the other six have been sent to the pathology department and their reports are expected today (Friday), Dr Haroon Hashmi, the HFH dengue ward in-charge, told Dawn.

He added that three of the patients are from Islamabad.

Most of the patients from Rawalpindi are from the city areas, while 10 are from Gujar Khan. The hospitalised patients are in stable condition and recovering fast, he said.

“DHQ Hospital has received three more suspected dengue patients. The hospital is waiting for the dengue serology report,” a doctor from the DHQ Hospital said. Most of the suspected patients are from Rawalpindi city, he said.

A doctor from BBH said that while the hospital has received suspected dengue patients, there have not been any confirmed patients yet.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards have not yet begun fogging in cantonment areas to prevent dengue.

The first dengue patient admitted to a government hospital was reported from Gulistan Colony, in the limits of the Chaklala Cantonment Board, two months ago, but anti-dengue medicines have not been sprayed in and around the area.

A senior Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) official said the board has sprayed anti-mosquito medicine every monsoon for the last 10 years, but failed to do so this year.

He admitted that the RCB had not paid attention to problems facing densely populated areas because of a funding shortage in the organisation.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2018