ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: Reviewing the dengue fever situation in the country, especially in Sindh, the prime minister was informed on Friday that out of 1,068 suspected patients reported in Sindh only 300 had been found dengue positive, and that the incidence of disease was on the decline due to preventive steps taken by the federal and provincial governments.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz presided over a meeting held to review the situation arising from the outbreak of dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever in the country, particularly in Sindh province. The meting was attended by federal minister of State for Health Shahnaz Sheikh, the health secretary and other federal and provincial health officials.

The meeting was informed that the government was closely monitoring the incidence of dengue fever and curative and preventive measures had been taken by the federal, provincial and city governments.

The health secretary told the participants that people were being informed that if someone was suffering from high fever and severe body ache, he or she should be immediately taken to a hospital for diagnostic tests.

The health ministry was working in close liaison with the WHO, Centres for Disease Control and the provincial governments to cope with the problem, he said.

The meeting was informed that the health department of Sindh had established a DHF Prevention and Control Cell, which was jointly working with the National Institute of Health, the WHO and other institutions.

It was told that the Karachi city district government was using 55 mobile fumigation units to eliminate the mosquito whose bite caused the disease.

FUNDS FOR WAPDA: The government will provide an additional amount of Rs5.1 billion to Wapda to help it improve its power generation and distribution system and take steps to bridge gap between power demand and supply in the country.