RAWALPINDI: After Punjab Dengue Act 2014 ceased in November, the District Health Authority on Thursday sent a request to Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department to issue a notification to enforce it throughout the year instead of nine months.

Under the Act, officials of the district administration and allied departments get powers to impose fines and take legal action against those who fail to control dengue breeding spots on their premises.

The law is enforced in the province during the dengue season from February 1 to November 1. However, during the remaining three months of the year dengue surveillance activities are stopped and the health department makes preparations for the next peak season.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Headquarters Saima Younas told Dawn that the Act had ceased in November after which the district departments had no legal support to conduct surveillance and take action against violators.

“Deputy Commissioner Saifullah Dogar directed the Chief Executive Officer of the District Health Department to take up the matter with the Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department for enforcement of Dengue Act throughout the year so that action can be taken all the year on violations of dengue surveillance and prevention activities.”

She said in other districts there was no epidemic emergency but in Rawalpindi a dengue epidemic broke out last year and there was a need to continue anti-dengue activities in the winter too.

She said under the law, the secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department issued a notification in February to enforce the dengue Act.

She said the district administration launched a drive to clear residential and commercial areas from dengue larvae in the winter but officials faced problems as they became powerless.

When contacted, District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Suhail Ahmed said the request had been sent to the health department.

He said the district administration had made a plan to continue the dengue drive in the dengue-hit union councils.

“Last year, the dengue virus was limited to Rawalpindi, Gujar Khan and Taxila tehsils but now it has spread to other tehsils, including Kotli Sattian, Kalar Syedan, Murree and Kahuta, so there is a dire need to make preparations in January.”

He said the health authority had also requested the provincial government to recruit more staff for dengue surveillance as the current strength of 1,300 was not enough to conduct door-to-door surveys.

“We have demanded 1,300 more sanitary patrol personnel. The government usually allows hiring of staff for three months only and nobody is willing to work on a temporary basis for three months.”

He said that in January the authority inspects its machinery, anti-dengue medicine stock and trains the staff for the drive. He said a demand was also made for funds.

On the other hand, district administration officials expressed concerns over the holding of daily meetings regarding dengue control review and said they had to report to the deputy commissioner office on a daily basis after 8pm.

“We have to work from 8am to 10pm daily and have no time to rest and spend some time with our families,” said an official of the district administration requesting not to be named.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2020