RAWALPINDI: As many as 53 more dengue patients landed in government hospitals on Sunday, taking the tally of the current season to 1,194 in the district with no death reported so far.

Officials said currently 100 confirmed patients were getting treatment in the hospitals and seven of them were in critical condition.

A total of 150 patients are admitted to the hospitals and dengue serology of 50 of them are still awaited. The officials said 67 patients were in Holy Family Hospital (HFH), 43 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), 34 in District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, six in the tehsil headquarters hospitals of Taxila, Wah and Kallar Syedan.

Most of the patients arrived from Wakeel Colony, Airport Housing Scheme, Qasim Market, Dhoke Paracha, Madina Town, Mohabat Colony near LHC Road, Chaklala, Muslim Town, Shah Khalid Colony, Misrial Road and adjoining areas.

The officials said health department teams were continuing indoor and outdoor operations. On Sunday, more than 20,207 houses were checked and dengue larvae were found in 1,005 houses. Similarly, 7,485 outdoor spots were checked and dengue larvae were found in 103 of the spots.

Meanwhile, Punjab caretaker Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare and Population Welfare Dr Jamal Nasir visited Benazir Bhutto Hospital to check facilities for dengue and conjunctivitis patients.

During the visit, he said special counters had been established in the emergency wards of all hospitals for conjunctivitis cases. He said patients suffering from this eye infection should be kept separately from other patients and if not necessary they should be discharged after immediate medical assistance.

BBH Medical Superintendent Dr Syed Tahir Mehmood briefed the minister during the visit.

Dr Nasir also said that conjunctivitis patients should not be sent to the OPD unnecessarily, so that other patients were kept safe. Complete medicines should be provided at special conjunctivitis counters. He said there had been a significant reduction in conjunctivitis cases due to the decision of holidays in government schools on the direction of caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

Dr Nasir also inspected the dengue ward and visited the patients. He said beds and other resources in the dengue wards should be used according to the requirements. If the number of dengue patients in a hospital is less, the empty beds should not be kept in the dengue ward unnecessarily, he added.

He said the provincial government was committed to utilising available resources in the public health sector in the best way due to which the facilities had improved significantly.

He said there was no lack of resources in Pakistan. All resources are abundantly available but there is a need to use these resources with integrity and transparency.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2023