Punjab Health Secretary Arif Nadeem informed that there were no confirmed dengue cases in the province currently in a meeting of the Dengue Response Committee presided over by Chief Secretary Javed Iqbal. Additional Chief Secretary Iftikhar Ahmad Rao, secretaries of concerned departments and senior officers, Lahore Commissioner Rana Nasim and (District Coordination Officer) DCO Rizwan Mehboob were also present.
Three confirmed patients of dengue were reported in the province during the last five months out of which two belonged to Faisalabad and one to Lahore. Dengue tests of 398 suspected patients were conducted in Punjab during the last five months and were found to be negative.
The health secretary said in his briefing that 495 teams were engaged in indoor and outdoor vector surveillance in Lahore and dengue larvae sites were found at Samanabad, RaviTown
and AzizBhattiTown which were then successfully removed. He said that diagnostic and treatment facilities for dengue patients were available at all government hospitals and High Dependency Units were also functional. King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Vice Chancellor and Dengue Experts Advisory Group (DEAG) Chairman Professor Faisal Masood informed that due to rising temperatures dengue mosquitoes cannot germinate outdoors, however, they can take refuge in houses and shady places where they would multiply during the monsoon season. He said that August and September were peak season for dengue mosquito breeding.
Senior health, higher education, primary education, agriculture, local government, fisheries, information and culture, labour department officials, Punjab Information Technology
Board officers and the Lahore commissioner Lahore and DCO also briefed regarding the steps taken by their respective departments for controlling dengue.
The participants were further informed that seminars were being organised regularly in educational institutions to promoted public awareness regarding preventive measures against dengue. Moreover, Vector Surveillance activities were being continued in junkyards, graveyards, tyre shops and construction sites. Similarly, indoor surveillance was also underway. It was further told that five dengue germination sites were found in Gulberg, two in Data Ganj Baksh Town and one each in Shalimar Town and Aziz Bhatti Town which have been eliminated. Lahore Commissioner Rana Nasim informed that cases have been registered against 53 owners for neglecting dengue control and 13 premises have been sealed. Chief Secretary Javed Iqbal while appreciating the efforts of the health and other departments said that the same spirit and dedication needed to be shown against the measles outbreak.
