RAWALPINDI: The arrival of nine more dengue patients in the garrison city hospitals took their tally to 37.

A senior official of the health authority told Dawn that after the heavy rains last month they had warned the district administration and allied departments of the dengue virus particularly in the low-lying areas.

He said the environment department had failed to take any action against junkyards. Even the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation did not clean graveyards and check tyre shops which were the breeding spots for mosquitoes.

“The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) also failed to clear areas around its water resources especially water filtration plants and tubewells,” he said.

District Coordinator Epidemics Prevention and Control Dr Sajjad Mahmood said 112 beds have been allocated for dengue patients in three government hospitals out of which 78 have been occupied by 37 confirmed 41 suspected patients.

On the other hand, a meeting was held at the deputy commissioner’s office to review the anti-dengue campaign.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ali directed all the allied departments to optimise their performance by 100 per cent and said strict action would be taken against those showing negligence in the campaign.

He directed the departments to carry out special dengue surveillance in the under-construction buildings, garbage dumps and cemeteries besides holding indoor and outdoor survey of houses effectively.

Furthermore, he also ordered availability of required medicines in hospitals.

He said an integrated system should be put in place to create public awareness of dengue preventive measures.

The meeting was informed that in the last 24 hours nine confirmed patients had been reported in Rawalpindi. Four patients belonged to Rawalpindi Cantonment, two each were from Chaklala Cantonment and city areas and one was from Potohar Town.

According to SOPs issued by the government, a survey has been carried out at homes and workplaces from where these patients were reported.

Briefing the meeting, the health officials said special monitoring of dengue surveillance teams was being carried out to make field activities more effective.

It was informed that so far 128 FIRs have been registered and 423 challans and 2,090 notices issued in the district for violation of dengue SOPs.

Challans amounting to Rs1,676,000 and Rs321,000 have been issued for violation of SOPs and on detection of larva on different premises, respectively.

Meanwhile, the number of dengue patients in capital rose to 145, as 11 more cases were reported on Friday.

District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia said out of the 11 cases, seven were reported from rural areas, including Koral, Alipur, Tarnol, Tarlai and Bharakahu and four from urban areas.

Six of them are admitted in Benazir Bhutto Hospital and five in Holy Family Hospital of Rawalpindi, he said, adding that so far 106 cases were reported from rural areas and 39 from urban area, he said.

Houses indoor residual spray activities was done in 1,113 houses, while fogging activities were done at 2720 spots to eliminate the dengue larva, Dr Zia said.

Separate teams of District Health Office visited 808 houses in connection with dengue prevention.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2021