LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar says the government is devising a ‘permanent’ solution to dengue instead of taking temporary measures.

Speaking at the inaugural session of International Dengue Conference 2020, organised by the primary and secondary healthcare department at a local hotel on Thursday, the chief minister said the dengue had affected several countries including Pakistan and assured that the government would continue working hard for its complete eradication.

He said he had visited different districts last year to monitor the field situation and took steps to control the dengue epidemic. He said over 20,000 dengue cases had surfaced in Punjab in 2011 and around 350 died. He said dengue again surfaced in Punjab in 2019 and Rawalpindi remained the worst-hit district.

“I was very much aggrieved at the loss of lives due to dengue in 2019,” he said and added that the government ran an organised anti-dengue campaign that proved successful.

Mr Buzdar lauded the services of assembly members, civil society as well as politicians for the eradication of dengue and asserted that protection of citizens’ health was a responsibility of the government.

“Timely eradication of dengue and other deadly diseases is an important priority of the Punjab government and it is working to minimise the negative effects of the disease,” he said. He hoped the government efforts would bear fruits and the conference proved a game changer event for the eradication of the disease.

Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid committed that Punjab would evolve a 10-year dengue strategy in the light of the review, discussion and recommendations by local and international experts

She said the conference had brought together leading global experts to develop action plan to control dengue in the wake of a global pandemic that had hit countries from Far East Asia to South Asia. She said the disease was fast spreading from tropical regions into the sub-tropical regions of the world. She said dengue cases had seen a dramatic rise in many countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and others over the past three years.

Dr Rashid said experts from the academia, including virologists, epidemiologists, public health as well as researchers had been invited from across the regions to discuss and share experiences. She said the experts would review the existing strategies and if needed, revise SOPs related to case detection, diagnosis, clinical managements, treatment, surveillance and social mobilisation concerning dengue.

The minister said Punjab had hired over 6,000 dengue workers and the department had strenuously been working on cities hit hard by the epidemic. She said the strategies defined in the conference would not only be helpful for Pakistan, but also for other countries of the region.

WHO Pakistan representative Dr Palitha Mahipala, health adviser Hanif Pitafi, Unicef representatives, foreign experts, Balochistan health secretary Mudassar Waheed Malik, vice chancellors of medical colleges, doctors and scientists attended the conference.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2020