KARACHI: As number of dengue cases continued to increase, the Sindh health department on Saturday asked all officers across the province to prepare a contingency plan to meet the challenges amid approaching monsoon season that add risk to the outbreak of vector-borne diseases.

Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said that because monsoon season would have a significant effect on incidents of vector-borne diseases, measures must be taken beforehand to manage the situation pre-emptively.

It is advised to pay special attention and be vigilant so that there is no flare up of malaria, dengue and other vector-borne diseases in all districts.

“In this context all district health officers (DHOs) are advised to pease take necessary measures in hotspot localities,” she said.

She added: “Contingency plans have been prepared from all districts of the province and these include implementation of annual dengue activities calendar; formation of union council field squads; identification of hotspots and assessment surveys for identification of breeding sites.”

The minister asked for enlisting potential breeding sites across the province (indoor and outdoor), tagging of positive households, availability of insecticidal chemicals, functional spray and fogging machines, availability of vehicles to ensure that these measures take place and for the treatment and management of vector-borne diseases.

There are a total of 3,913 spray pumps across the province that will be utilised to spray hotspot areas.

“The highest number of spray pumps, 450, is in Dadu followed by Mirpurkhas 419, Sanghar 384, Tharparker 380, Khairpur 280, Benazirabad at 226,” she said.

“Tablets of chloroquin of 250 mg each are also available throughout Sindh with 81,000 in total and 230,840 remaining in balance. A total of 252 rounds of fogging spray have been conducted in different hotspots across the province,” the meeting was told.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2022