Punjab Minister for Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Khawaja Salman Rafiq presided over the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Dengue in the Committee Room, Civil Secretariat, here on Wednesday. Minister P&S Health Kh. Imran Nazir, Ms. Lubna Faisal and Raja Hanif MPAs, senior secretaries and other senior officers of government departments, public health experts, convener of DEAG Prof. Faisal Masood, representatives from PITB, Special Branch, police and other institutions were present in the meeting. The Commissioners/Deputy Commissioners, CEOs Health of other districts were participated in the meeting through video link. Prof. Faisal Masdood urged upon that special dengue preventive measures should be taken in Rawalpindi, Attock, Hasanabdal, Taxila and Wah Cantt areas due to the dengue outbreak in KPK. He said that special dengue surveillance should be carried out to check the virus. The Deputy Commissioners and CEOs Health of Gujranwala, Kasur, Lahore, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Attock, Vehari, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Layyah, Jhang and DG Khan briefed the meeting regarding the anti dengue measures and surveillance activities being carried out in their respective districts. Kh. Salman Rafiq directed that dengue surveillance and spray should be conducted in the “Imam bargahs” to protect the people attending the “majalis” of Moharram-ul-Haram. He directed to send a special team from Multan to Bahawalpur for third-party validation (TPV) of dengue control activities. Moreover, technical experts also be sent from Allied Hospital Faisalabad to Sargodha to assess the technical expertise, capacity-building and to review the dengue protocol being observed in the hospitals of Sargodha. Minister P&S Health Kh. Imran Nazir directed that if dengue would not be confirmed in the suspected dengue patients, blood tests of Chikungunya of such patients should also be performed to remove any doubt about the disease of similar symptoms. He strictly directed the CEO Health Lahore to furnish a comprehensive report in 48 hours regarding the health facilities including BHUs and RHCs to ensure that no government property is under illegal custody of any Qabza group. Kh. Imran Nazir warned that no Qabza group would be allowed to grab government property and such elements would be dealt with iron hand.
