Another four people died of dengue fever on Wednesday, three of them at Mayo Hospital Lahore, raising the death toll from the deadly virus to 106 in the provincial capital, as after two months since the start of the epidemic and the loss of over a hundred lives, professors of medicine finally agreed on a joint protocol to treat the patients afflicted with dengue.
Among those who contracted dengue recently were PML-N MPA from Faisalabad Rana Afzal Khan and Chief Minister’s Coordinator Waheed Gul, currently under treatment at Allied Hospital and Services Hospital, respectively. The Punjab Health Department has reported 11,584 dengue patients in the province, out of which it says 9,787 have been discharged after being fully cured.
The provincial capital has been worst-hit, with some 10,244 reported cases of dengue fever. Professors and medical superintendents of government teaching hospitals unequivocally and unanimously demanded that hospitals be exempted from load shedding for the rest of the dengue season. Separately, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the formulation of a system to gather data of dengue patients in the province.
He also ordered awareness programmes in schools on a daily basis. In Ranipur, Sindh, a boy died of dengue virus, doctors said. The boy was brought to Ranipur Hospital where doctors confirmed he had contracted dengue, and he was referred to Nawabshah Hospital. The boy, however, died on the way to Nawabshah.