Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Kh. Salman Rafique has said due to the stability of temperature dengue season can prolong upto December. He directed all the government departments to continue their vigorous dengue surveillance activities. He further directed that quality assessment of outdoor and indoor dengue surveillance activities also be carried out in the meetings of Town Emergency Response Committees.
He said this while presiding over a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Dengue in the S&GAD Committee Room at Civil Secretariat on Friday. Besides secretaries of different government departments, senior officers, public health experts, clinicians and DCO Lahore Capt. Retd. Muhammad Usman were present in the meeting. The DCOs and EDOs Health of other districts participated in the meeting through video link. Additional Director General Health Dengue Control Dr. Fayyaz Butt briefed about the dengue surveillance and vector surveillance activities across the province especially in the sensitive districts. He informed that during current year so far 177 confirmed dengue patients have been reported in Lahore. He informed that although 530 confirmed dengue patients have so far been reported in Rawalpindi but situation is far better as compared to the previous year. Dr. Fayyaz Butt said that lot of efforts are required to control dengue in Islamabad as 730 dengue patients have been reported in Islamabad whereas last year this number of zero. DCO Rawalpindi said that treatment of dengue patients from Islamabad is also being done in public hospitals of Rawalpindi due to that workload has been increased in these hospitals manifold.
DCO Lahore informed that presently Nishter Colony, DHA, Gulberg Town, Samanabad and Allama Iqbal Town are more affected areas from where patients are being reported. He disclosed that FIRs are being registered against the owners of houses from where second time dengue larvae is being reported during indoor dengue surveillance and so far during the last two weeks 142 FIRs have been registered and 41 people were arrested. It was informed that as soon as the night temperature go down the dengue mosquito will move inside the houses and due to the warm atmosphere in day time the dengue breeding would continue, therefore, a close monitoring of the situation and vigorous dengue surveillance is required to check the dengue breeding. Kh. Salman Rafique directed that gaps and sore points pointed out by the Punjab Information Technology Board and Special Branch should be removed. He also directed to reactivate the health line for appropriate information for the public.