RAWALPINDI: Three government-run hospitals have received two dengue patients and 598 with symptoms of the disease.

This was stated at a meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner Ali Randhawa at his office on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by Additional Deputy Commissioner Headquarters Saima Younas, assistant commissioners Naeem Afzal and Zahid Khan and senior officials of district administration and District Health Authority.

The deputy commissioner asked the departments to speed up the campaign against the dengue virus.

He said the peak season of dengue had arrived and the fumigation drive should be launched in vulnerable areas.

An official of the health department informed the meeting that two dengue patients had landed in the government-run hospitals of the city but their travel history revealed that they contracted the dengue virus from Karachi and Peshawar. He said the hospitals had also received as many as 598 suspected patients.

The official said that during the anti-dengue campaign, the teams found dengue larvae in 145 houses and 57 commercial sites.

The deputy commissioner directed the health authority and Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation to clear all the junkyards, graveyards and parks of dengue larvae.

He said the involvement of the local residents would give better results as they would adopt the preventive measures against the virus. He said the fumigation in the low lying areas would protect the people for next six months when the dengue season would come to an end.

He said the provincial government had asked the district government to utilise all the available resources to check dengue virus.

He said the teams would be sent into those areas where dengue virus had constantly been found during the last few years.

Deputy Commissioner Ali Randhawa also directed the department concerned to address the complaints of the residents lodged at the complaint centres.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2019