RAWALPINDI: Hospitals of the garrison city received another 19 dengue patients taking the season’s tally to 178.

As many as 144 cases were reported from Aug 4 to Sept 4 in Rawalpindi. On Thursday, most of the cases were reported from the different parts of the garrison city including Basali, Takht Pari, Kalyal, Gangal, Rehmatabad, Kotha Kalan, Morgah, Sadiqabad, Muslim Town, Kartarpura, Hazara Colony, Dhoke Mangtal, Fauji Colony, Gujar Khan, Kahuta and Ward 16 of Rawalpindi Cantonment.

Interestingly, the flood-affected Lahore has so far reported more than 80 cases in this season while in Rawalpindi and Murree teh number is almost double.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that daily anti-dengue campaign review meeting held in Deputy Commissioner’s office with local PML-NMNAs and MPAs on daily basis but the situation hardly improves.

“The local MNAs and MPAs were not interested in campaign and they just visit local administration offices for their development works and did not visit their union councils to monitor the flood situation,” he said.

He said last week, daily five to six dengue patients were reported but during last two days, the number of dengue patients entered the double figure.

They said that the relevant civic bodies had failed to take action against tyre shops and junk yards in the garrison city as in Glass Factory and Amarpura localities, the car mechanic shops markets rooftops became breeding grounds for dengue. They said that graveyards not cleaned in the garrison city and low lying areas along Leh Nullah were also worst affected.

After the rain, it was the duty of health authority and Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation to launch massive campaign to spray anti-dengue medicines in the area and drain out water from the dilapidated roads, streets and vacant grounds as well as along the Leh Nullah.

When contacted, Punjab government Expert on Dengue Dr Waseem Akram said that the dengue virus was spreading in many parts of the province in Rawalpindi and there was dire need to create awareness among the masses about the prevention measures.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2025