RAWALPINDI: There is no let-up in dengue cases as 94 more patients arrived in the three government hospitals in the city on Sunday, taking the tally to 1,374 cases for three weeks.

The rising number of dengue cases forced Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to order an inquiry to find out the reason, and deputed the chief secretary to supervise the anti-dengue drive.

The dengue patients reported to Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital. However, there was no data available with the district administration and the health department about patients in private hospitals and clinics.

94 more suspected dengue patients report to three govt hospitals in city

All the patients who arrived in the government hospitals were from 70 union councils of the city and 20 wards of Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonments.

On Sunday, 150 patients landed in the three government hospitals while 94 of them tested positive for the dengue fever. As many as 85 of the patients reported to the HFH, 36 to BBH and 29 to the DHQ hospital.

“The hospitals received 150 new patients and 94 of them tested positive for dengue while dengue serology reports of the remaining patients are awaited,” Additional Deputy Commissioner Saima Younas told Dawn.

She said the hospitals had sufficient beds to accommodate more patients, adding 334 patients were admitted to the hospitals which had capacity to accommodate more than 400 patients at a time. She said 107 dengue patients were discharged on Sunday.

The official said it was a good sign that a large number of patients had recovered. She said compared to last month the number of dengue patients reduced during the last week.

“The district administration under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Ali Randhawa is working day and night to clear the city and cantonment from the dengue virus,” she said.

She said Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) had lodged FIRs against seven commercial building owners after detecting dengue larvae from their premises, Auqaf department cleared 50 mosques from dengue larvae and environment department lodged cases against two junkyards.

She said a third-party audit of the anti-dengue drive was underway in the city and cantonment area by the agriculture and local government departments to check the work of the sanitary patrols and other officials.

She said the district administration declared Dhoke Munshi union council as a sensitive area. However, mostly of the dengue patients have arrived in the hospitals from Westridge, Morgah, Airport Housing Society and New Afzal Town near Gulraiz.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2019