Five cases reported in ‘dengue-free’ Punjab

In the last three months, 299 suspected cases of dengue have been reported throughout the Punjab out of which five have been confirmed so far. A seminar, titled, ‘Prevention and Control of Dengue’ was held by the Punjab Health Department in collaboration with the World Health Organisation at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Thursday.
Punjab Health Department Additional Director General Dr Jaffar Ilyas said an effective vector surveillance system has been launched in Lahore and so far more than 34, 000 points have been checked to find out the larvae of the Aedes aegypti, the mosquito responsible for the spread of dengue. He added that eggs and larvae were found from only 46 points.
Dr Paba, the head of the Sri Lankan team that is visiting Lahore these days, said the arrangements made by the Punjab government for dengue prevention and control were highly satisfactory and hoped that the dengue situation will be completely under control in the coming months.
Dr Paba added that it is heartening to note that the Punjab government had introduced a chapter in the syllabi taught to students from the fifth twelfth grades regarding protection from the dengue virus and preventive measures that could be taken to protect against the deadly disease.
UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof IA Naveed said the collaboration with the Sri Lankan experts, local doctors, health officials and dengue experts had sufficiently enhanced their knowledge and clinical experience during the past year, which will help eradicate the disease. He added that the worst ever epidemic of dengue hit the country last year and was countered in an organised manner because of the combined efforts of the doctors, experts, politicians and bureaucrats.
Prof Naveed also lauded the role of the media in pointing out various issues due to which the government departments concerned improved their arrangements for combating the challenge.
Punjab Government Chief Social Mobiliser Shaista Pervaiz Malik said dengue was now more of a social issue than a disease. She stated that volunteers were being registered from schools, colleges and universities and that so far more than 10,000 people had been registered. She added that the volunteers will go door-to-door to create awareness among the masses regarding the prevention and control of dengue.
Punjab Health Director General Dr Nisar Ahmed Cheema said the media should act more responsibly while reporting dengue cases. He also emphasised the need to improve the training of nurses in order to better manage the dengue patients in hospitals.
Chief Minister’s Secretariat Research and Development Head Dr Waseem Akram said the dengue mosquito was quite active at the end of February and completed the first phase of its generation by May. The second phase started in mid July which continued till November. He said it was important to control the mosquito population during the first phase.