–Over 10,000 people tested positive for mosquito-borne disease
ISLAMABAD: At least 10,000 people have tested positive for dengue in the country with the number expected to rise in the coming days.
Addressing a press conference Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza said the federal government was in coordination with provinces to curb dengue outbreak and concerted efforts were being made to check it.
“A Dengue Control Operational Center has been set-up in Islamabad which would daily review the dengue-related situation across the country review steps to control it,” Dr Mirza said.
He added two hotlines with contact numbers (051-9212601 and 9216890) would work round the clock and expert doctors would respond to the dengue-related queries to the general public.
Speaking about the number of reported cases, Dr Mirza said there were 10,013 dengue patients at present in the country out of which 2,363 were in Punjab, 2,258 in Sindh, 1,814 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 1,772 in Balochistan.
“At present, our concentration is to keep an eye on the outbreak rather than doing politics,” he said. “During the last 48 hours, the number of patients having increased with the number expected to rise in the coming 7-10 days.”
He added it their responsibility to suggest preventive measures to the people and special hotlines have been set up for the same. “70 per cent dengue patients in Punjab were reported from the Potohar region,” Dr Mirza noted.
He further said a special study or research would be conducted in the coming days to find out why dengue spread out in this region.
“An Emergency Centre had been established at National Institute of Health (NIH) ten days before and the entire statistics are available on the NIH website on a daily basis,” he assured.
Keeping in view the possible increase in the number of dengue patients, Dr Mirza said owners of private hospitals in Islamabad were contacted who ensured to provide a total of 1,000 beds in their hospitals in case of a capacity issue in the government hospitals.
The treatment at these private hospitals would be free of cost, he said thanking the management of private hospitals over this gesture.
Moreover, he said 16 Basic Health Units in Islamabad have been functional and trained doctors were providing treatment to dengue and other patients.
He urged the people to visit these units for carrying out tests following which the medical staff would guide to visit the nearest hospital in case of any issue with them.
Dr Mirza further said the health department has been fumigating the most affected areas while the federal government was in coordination with provincial governments to curb dengue outbreak and provide health facilities to dengue patients.
“With a possible increase in the number of patients in the coming days, the situation would be in complete control till the end of this month,” he said.
Responding to question about the lack of rabies vaccine in the country, Dr Mirza said its production at NIH would be doubled in coming years.
He lamented over non-production of around 900,000 doses in the country during previous tenures and assured that the incumbent government would take steps in this regard.
In response to another question about the increase in medicine prices, Dr Mirza said there was a price-fixing policy of medicines.
In May, prices of some medicines went up-to 200-300 per cent but their prices were brought down to 75 per cent.
He said the government was in contact with the manufactures and prices of medicines would further decrease.
