PESHAWAR: Gripped by fear of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever, people with similar symptoms in the surrounding villages of Peshawar have started turning to the unauthorised medical practitioners to seek treatment that has prompted the health department to swing into action against them.

Director-General Health Services Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Arshad Ahmed Khan told Dawn that crackdown was launched on quacks as they were spreading rumours about the outbreak of dengue to scare people and earn money.

“We have sealed 16 clinics involved in mistreating people in the name of treatment for dengue virus in Peshawar district. The crackdown will continue to safeguard the people against unethical medical practitioners throughout the province,” he said.

Dr Arshad said that people got panicked by the unfounded propaganda unleashed by quacks and went to such clinics for treatment. “Nobody will be allowed to play with the lives of people,” he added.

DG health says unauthorised practitioners spreading rumours to earn money

The government has established isolation wards in the city’s hospitals where more than 2,593 patients have been treated so far while a total of 3,125 dengue patients have been confirmed by health department. Peshawar has recorded 1,725 dengue cases.

However, sources said that number of patients was far more than recorded by the health department because there was a flawed system of case reporting. The people designated to report cases are finding it hard to get data from the public sector hospitals and present a real picture regarding the mosquitoes-borne ailment.

The people, who seek treatment at the village-based clinics run by unqualified medical practitioners, argue that they cannot pay high charges for investigation and treatment at the hospitals and therefore visit such clinics where they get treatment for Rs200 only. Even the local laboratories are testing blood of the patients and give them positive report.

Sources said that only 20 per cent patients visited government facilities while 80 per cent preferred private clinics, the record of which was not available.

The first dengue case was diagnosed on July 1 in Sarband village but reporting of the cases was started from August.

The data provided by the district health office doesn’t match the ground situation in Peshawar where 100 health facilities are reporting more than 200 cases per day.

Meanwhile, the government has asked the World Health Organisation to extend support to it to cope with the situation. In 2017, when dengue fever infected more 30,000 people in the province, mostly in Peshawar, the WHO provided medicines as well as diagnostic kits to government deal with the worst ever public health issue that killed about 70 people.

“We have requested the support of Entomologist, Destrin 40 infusion and health education material from the world health agency regarding the ongoing outbreak,” officials said.

They said that they were planning for intensive campaign for larvicidal activities in high burden union councils in Peshawar in collaboration with other departments.

The health department has been asking the line departments to play their role in prevention of the infections but all such requests have fallen on deaf ears.

The district administration has carried out awareness campaigns but other departments are yet to swing into action and ensure cleanliness and eliminate stagnant water pools, which are potential breeding sites for mosquitoes.

Azar Sardar, the chairman of Healthcare Commission, said that they started aggressive drive to take action against the people indulging in unauthorised treatment of dengue patients. “As our mandate, we will ensure that people stay safe from quacks,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2019