KARACHI: The provincial health department has ordered all district hospitals to establish dengue fever clinics, officials said on Friday.

“The health department has asked all district hospitals to establish dengue fever clinics in their outpatient departments as summer is round the corner. Besides, special dengue care units will also be established for serious patients in these hospitals,” Dr Shakeel Malick, focal person of the Sindh dengue surveillance cell, told Dawn.

He said that a fresh request had been sent to the World Health Organisation to conduct refresher courses for training of medics and paramedics in the province.

“We are also selecting 100 teachers to train them so that they can help us increase public awareness of this disease,” he said.

The municipal and medical services department of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) have also made preparations to combat dengue.

The KMC officials claimed in a recent meeting that the city would be, by and large, ‘dengue-free’ by the next year as an effective plan had been prepared according to which breeding places of mosquito had been identified.

They said that a survey of up to 18 large and around 200 small nurseries, mainly responsible for mosquito breeding, established on drains and along the streets had been completed.

According to KMC officials, around 19,000 people have been affected by dengue virus since 2006.

A total of 125 people, including 33 per cent women, have died because of dengue.

They said that most deaths (49) were reported in 2006 while last year four people died from dengue.

The officials said that all the drains were being regularly cleaned and a campaign of pesticide spray and fumigation was being planned at all the identified breeding grounds of mosquito.

The campaign will start next month with a fleet of 60 fumigation vehicles.

This year 44 dengue cases have been reported at various hospitals so far.