President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday called for restructuring of Provincial Malaria Control Programme to strengthen it in the management and monitoring of dengue and malaria in Sindh and stressed the need for capacity building of medics for clinical management of dengue.
This he said during a briefing given at Bilawal House here on dengue in the aftermath of floods in Sindh. The briefing was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, MNA Faryal Talpur, senior doctors and dengue experts from private and public sector as well as a team of dengue experts from Sri Lanka.
Briefing media persons, Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said the president directed that plans be drawn for a permanent solution to tackle dengue and other related diseases in the wake of floods and heavy rains as “we may have to learn to live with heavy rains and floods due to global climate change.”
It was informed that the Sindh government had already nominated provincial and district focal persons for dengue and set up a surveillance centre with a designated officer in every district of the province.
The president was informed that the City District Government Karachi had started carrying out fumigation for malaria and dengue fever and instructions had been issued to the district coordination officers for carrying out fumigation in their districts, Farhatullah Babar said.
The president also called for identifying ‘hot spots’ for dengue virus in the light of past experience and directed that special measures be taken to prevent dengue outbreak in those areas.
The president said the community should also be educated through media campaign in the surveillance and management of dengue.
When informed that Karachi had 32 fogging machines but only 21 vehicles, the president directed that additional vehicles be procured urgently so that all the fumigation machines could be used.
The president also thanked the Sri Lankan High Commissioner, who also attended the meeting, and medical team of Sri Lanka for their help.
President directs restructuring of malaria control programme
