PESHAWAR: Amid rising dengue cases, quacks are illegally “treating” infected people in the provincial capital without let or hindrance, insist doctors.

They told Dawn that illegal medical practitioners in Tehkal, Pawaka, Palosai, Nasir Bagh Road, Sufaid Dheri and Sarband, which had reported high dengue incidence for several years, administered dextrose and normal saline drips to visitors along with analgesic injections without dengue diagnosis.

They said the people turned to quacks after running temperature.

The medics said the tally of dengue cases in the province reached 2,977 as 97 more residents got down with the infection on Tuesday.

Health official says HCC authorised to crack down on unlawful clinics

“Our province records a higher number of dengue cases in September and October and the people in endemic areas mistake all sorts of fever, especially malaria, for dengue and turn to illegal clinics where “quacks” administer intravenous fluids,” a physician at a medical teaching institution in Peshawar told Dawn.

He said the dengue spike wasn’t unusual in October as the temperature in the month stayed favourable for breeding of mosquitoes, the carrier and transmitter of the virus.

A report released by the health department said the province had 93 hospitalised dengue patients and 20 of them were new cases reported in the last 24 hours.

It added that during the current year, a total of 1,289 dengue cases were treated in hospitals and the number of active patients was 247.

The report said that 2,730 patients had recovered from the disease, with 976 in Charsadda, 299 in Mansehra, 270 in Haripur, 238 in Peshawar, 228 in Mardan, 125 in Kohat and 119 in Swabi.

The doctors said that most patients tested positive for the dengue on rapid diagnostic kit but turned out to be negative during PCR testing.

They said false positive reports on rapid kits were an issue, so the best way to address it was PCR testing for dengue confirmation.

The doctors asked the KP Health Care Commission to take notice of quackery and save people from unnecessary drip and injection administration.

They said dengue tests were offered by all MTIs but people visited unauthorised medical practitioners to seek treatment.

A resident of Sufaid Dheri said that he visited a private clinic after recording 103°F fever and was given normal saline infusion immediately.

He said he paid Rs1200 but had he gone to MTI, the cost would have been Rs5000 and the treatment would have taken place after hours of waiting.

The resident said he knew that qualified doctors were good for examinations but their cost was very high and he and other people prefer to visit practitioners in their neighbourhood and get affordable treatment.

Another dengue patient from an area near an MTI said he went to a clinic of a medical technician but found it crowded, so he took medication at home.

He said the street-based practitioners were known to the people for knowing them for years.

A senior health official said that it was the domain of the HCC to launch action against unlawful clinics and stop unsafe medical practices.

He said the health department had been holding awareness campaigns where people were informed about the causes and prevention of dengue fever, so people with symptoms of dengue should visit hospitals to avail themselves of free diagnostic services.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2025