The dengue epidemic continues unabated, claiming another five lives including that of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Provincial Assembly Member (MPA) Chaudhry Mumtaz Jajja, who succumbed to the deadly virus at Jinnah Hospital on Thursday. Jajja, who was the parliamentary secretary for education, was put on ventilator for many days but his condition continued to deteriorate, eventually ending on his demise.
With the five deaths on Thursday, the death toll in the provincial capital from dengue has reached 111. In the rest of Punjab, nine deaths have been reported so far, with new cases emerging every day. Another 331 confirmed cases were reported in Punjab on Thursday, 279 of which were from Lahore. Punjab has seen some 11,915 confirmed cases in the month since the outbreak of the epidemic, 10,525 of which were reported in Lahore alone.
Punjab Agriculture Secretary Arif Nadeem, a member of the chief minister’s anti-dengue task force, told reporters that Basic Health Units and dispensaries in Lahore had been moved to dengue care units and were working as filter clinics for dengue patients where all necessary medical equipment had been provided to treat dengue patients. He said after the filtration process, confirmed dengue patients were referred to teaching hospitals so the work load and rush of patients at teaching hospitals was gradually decreasing.
Punjab Health Director General Dr Aslam Chaudhry said the ecology and larvicide expert of the World Health Organisation, Dr Raman, was busy preparing a long-term strategy for the elimination of the dengue virus. In Islamabad, Dengue Control and Surveillance Coordinator Dr Najeebullah Durrani said another 26 patients with suspected dengue fever had been admitted to the city’s hospitals during the last 24 hours, out of which 12 patients belonged to Islamabad and the rest were from Rawalpindi, Gilgit, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Jhelum.
The KP Health Department also released statistics regarding dengue fever in the province on Thursday. The report issued by the Directorate of General Health Services revealed that the total number of suspected dengue cases reported so far was 377, out of which 173 cases were confirmed, six of whom had died of dengue. Meanwhile, another eight suspected cases were reported in the province in the last 24 hours, out of which three were confirmed. One patient was admitted and the rest were discharged after recovery.
