ISLAMABAD: Expressing concerns over the increasing number of dengue cases in Punjab, the PML-N has blamed the PTI government for it.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb in a statement said, “the incompetent government has deprived people from facilities of health, free tests and medicines at public sector hospitals and left them at the mercy of dengue.”

She said dengue cases were increasing in different areas of Punjab due to inefficiency and non-initiation of timely steps by the government.

She said maladministration had reached such a level in Punjab that thousands of dengue patients were lying in hospitals unattended.

She said when Shehbaz Sharif was the chief minister he had eliminated dengue from Punjab as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Dengue spreads by the mosquito bite and patients face deficiency of platelets due to which transfusion of platelets is required as patient’s blood does not have the normal clotting ability.

If timely treatment is not provided, the disease may turn into a life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever. Fever may lead to bleeding, low levels of platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome - a dangerously low blood pressure.

Pakistan has experienced many dengue outbreaks since the first outbreak was observed in 1994. During the last two decades, two major outbreaks were reported in Pakistan.

In the year 2005 over 6,000 cases with 52 deaths were reported from Karachi while in 2011 more than 21,000 cases were reported from Lahore with 350 deaths. Moreover, between 2011 and 2014, more than 48,000 confirmed cases were reported from across the country.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2019