LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Khawaja Salman Rafiq presided over the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Dengue in the Committee Room, Civil Secretariat, on Wednesday. Matters relating to prevention of the disease were discussed.
Salman Rafiq directed that dengue surveillance and spray should be conducted in the imambargahs to protect the people attending the majalis of Muharram-ul-Haram. He directed to send a special team from Multan to Bahawalpur for third-party validation of dengue control activities. Moreover, technical experts should also be sent from Allied Hospital Faisalabad to Sargodha to assess the technical expertise, capacity-building and to review the dengue protocol being observed in the hospitals of Sargodha.
Provincial Minister for Primary and Secondary Health Imran Nazir directed that if dengue would not be confirmed in the suspected dengue patients, blood tests of Chikungunya in such patients should also be performed to remove any doubt about the disease of similar symptoms. He strictly directed the Lahore Health CEO to furnish a comprehensive report in 48 hours regarding the health facilities including BHUs and RHCs to ensure that no government property is under illegal custody of any ‘qabza’ group.
During the meeting, Professor Faisal Masood urged that special dengue preventive measures should be taken in Rawalpindi, Attock, Hasanabdal, Taxila and Wah Cantt areas due to the dengue outbreak in KPK. He said that special dengue surveillance should be carried out to check the virus.
