RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Acting Commissioner Talat Mehmood Gondal claimed on Tuesday that due to the efforts of the departments concerned, the threat of dengue has been brought under control in the city.
Gondal said that last year the daily number of dengue patients was reported to be between 80 to 90, which had been brought down to four or five patients per day through effective measures adopted by the departments concerned. He said that currently around 35 dengue patients were under treatment in different city hospitals, while adding that no casualties have occurred due to timely steps taken by the departments concerned.
He said that efforts to eradicate dengue from Rawalpindi were going on successfully as in 2015, 3,303 dengue patients were on record which had shown a remarkable decrease to 1,106 cases in 2016. In contrast to those two years, 2017 had witnessed only 191 patients so far which was the result of pre-planning, prevention activities and dengue surveillance, he added.
Furthermore, the acting commissioner said that the corresponding number of dengue patients last year was 20 which during this year had been less than the average of five patients per day. He said that effective measures adopted against dengue virus on the outskirts of the twin cities had yielded positive outcomes witnessed in the falling number of dengue patients with every passing year.
Moreover, Gondal said that overall 305 confirmed cases have been reported in Allied Hospitals of Rawalpindi, out of which 152 belonged to Rawalpindi. He compared the situation with previous year and said that in October 2016, around 305 patients were under treatment whereas today only 35 patients were undergoing treatment for the deadly virus.
He also said that around 15,222 houses have been sprayed during the month of October alone, whereas, 4,433 fogging activities have been carried out in the city.
In addition, the acting commissioner said that some fact and figures with regard to the number of dengue patients were thoroughly deceptive as the disease has been successfully controlled in the city. He said that the hospitals were well equipped to cope and treat with the dengue affected patients.
