Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is personally monitoring the activities and steps taken by various departments for eradication of dengue so that this menace could not resurface this year said Punjab Minister for Health Khalil Tahir Sindhu while presiding over a meeting of the Cabinet Committee to review measles and dengue situation in Punjab.
The health minister announced that second Anti-Dengue Day would be observed on August 17. He directed that federal government departments like Pakistan Railways and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited should be immediately contacted for dengue eradication activities.
August is a critical month with regard to dengue breeding, therefore, all concerned departments should work hard for its elimination and intensify vector surveillance and larvaeciding activities, he said.
Punjab Health Secretary Hassan Iqbal while briefing the meeting said that in the first week of September, anti-measles campaign would be launched in the remaining 12 districts during which 7.1 million children would be inoculated. He said that third-party validation of anti-measles campaign would also be conducted in these districts. He said that measles vaccine is being imported from Indonesia under warrantee.
On this occasion, King Edward Medical University Vice Chancellor Prof Faisal Masood expressed his concern over dengue situation in Karachi and said that due to travelling of people on a large scale on the eve of Eid, there are apprehensions that dengue cases would increase many times in Punjab especially in Lahore.
