LAHORE: Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz has expressed his grave concern at the spread of dengue and shortage of the medicines needed for treating the disease.

In a statement here on Sunday, he said dengue was taking roots in Punjab and the people were losing their near and dear ones as hundreds of new cases of the disease were being reported from the province on a daily basis due to the incumbent rulers’ ineptness.

He said dengue became an epidemic only because the government overlooked the task of spray and elimination of larvae of the virus.

Dengue cases in the province during the year have crossed the mark of 18,000 as only in Lahore 13,000 cases have been reported and 68 people have died of the disease.

The opposition leader regretted that an ordinary drug used to treat dengue had disappeared from the market and was not available even at three-fold price.

He lamented that the prices of other medicines had also registered a 500 per cent increase while the blood transfusion kits used to provide plasma to dengue patients had also disappeared from the market.

He recalled that the Lahore High Court had also remarked in a case that the Punjab government failed to curb the spread of dengue virus.

He said the government needed to act immediately to control the disease before it’s too late.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2021