- Across the country
This year’s monsoon season has not been kind. Apart from the havoc the rains caused in Karachi, the temperature and humidity have made the city a breeding ground for dengue carrying mosquitos. So far eight people have died from the haemorrhagic fever caused by the disease this year out of a whopping 1,585 total cases reported of whom only 73 were from other districts, the rest, from Karachi. KP has also not been spared with 1,200 cases reported in Peshawar from most of the same areas where the deadly virus struck in 2017 when 25 people died out 0f over 2,000 cases, meaning no lessons were learned from that outbreak by the PTI government. Meanwhile cases have also been reported in Rawalpindi, forcing one neighbourhood in the city to evacuate the area for prevention. Lahore has been relatively less affected with 20 cases reported this season by the Health Ministry, perhaps due to the 2011 epidemic that claimed 300 lives forcing the provincial government to take extreme preventive measures. Dengue detection and treatment is tricky as initial symptoms, such as high-grade fever and headaches are sometimes not immediately addressed, giving it time to progress to a dangerously low platelet count causing haemorrhaging, and eventually death if not treated aggressively.
Prevention is key, but unfortunately the various provincial governments still remain inept. The Sindh government’s complete lack of governance and control in the province, especially in Karachi, was on full display this monsoon season with a catastrophic solid waste disposal problem that is still unresolved and deaths from electrocutions, and these were not even the most severe rains the city has seen. Now it has to contend with dengue as well that thrives in places with standing water which is aplenty in Karachi these days.
Complaints of lack of medical facilities in KP also suggest that there too the government is in over its head. A proper comprehensive prevention, testing and treatment plan has to be developed and implemented in all major cities in order to get a hold of this problem before it is too late and deaths multiply. The country cannot afford another preventable epidemic.
