Though no one can suffer the symptoms of the Dengue virus more than the hapless victims themselves, the Punjab government is beginning to feel the heat in the form of criticism of its inability to deal with the fever. Why specifically the Punjab government? Because the said mosquitoes have zeroed in on the province with more effervescence than the Peoples Party. But it gets even worse. Generally accused of focusing all his energies onto the provincial capital rather than the rest of the province, specially the south, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif gets a criticism he is not really accustomed to: not paying any attention to Lahore. The city has had more reported cases of the virus than the rest of the province combined.
For a man who prides himself on his management skills, the Chief Minister is in over his head here. The Dengue fever is no earthquake or flood. It is a phenomenon that is very easy model. This is the time of the year that it happens. It gets even easier. The citys public hospitals provide a treasure trove of demographic information on the disease. The epidemiological pattern would hit any public health administrator in the face. The areas with modal instance of disease are clearly identifiable. A common response by the government, of late, has been that it is not to be blamed entirely. Since the insect in question lives around clean drinking water, claim the spin doctors, a responsibility also lies in the households themselves. This is to be contested: first of all, a door to door fumigation campaign, if need be, is in the explicit responsibility of the government. Second, for the proportion of the cases that the households are to be blamed for, the health department could have started a public awareness campaign with their usual tools: public service messages in the media, the network of schools and cooperation with the mosques.
In a short while, the chutzpah will commence. The reported cases of the disease will go down and the government will claim to have taken control of the situation. In reality, the mosquitoes themselves would have died out because of the cold, as is the pattern. Taking credit for it would be like the fire brigade taking credit for a fire that has been doused out because it has run out of things to burn, the victims of the Dengue virus being 800 and counting.
