Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that dengue eradication was a challenge and an effective strategy along with a short, medium and long term plan needed to be evolved to cope with it.
He said that people’s cooperation was important to fight dengue so the entire society needed to ensure a clean environment around them. He said an environmental police in the province should be deployed so the dengue menace could be effectively checked. Appreciating the efficiency of Secretary Health, he said that efforts of health department and public awareness campaign have greatly helped in apprising the people of preventive measures against dengue virus. He said that the eradication of dengue larvae was in progress in the light of the surveillance committee’s reports. He told the chairmen of the surveillance committee to visit various hospitals and ensure complete eradication of dengue larvae in hospitals. Shahbaz directed that a documentary film shedding light upon the ways to detect dengue and eradicate larva should be produced and distributed for people’s awareness. The Punjab health secretary said there was a gradual decrease in the number of patients in hospitals.