Dengue prevention and control activities have slowed down in Sindh province due to the lack of coordination between hospitals and management of dengue control programme, PPI learnt on Sunday.
Well-informed sources confirmed that all dengue prevention and control activities have been slowed down in the province, especially in Karachi city, due to the poor coordination between public healthcares and dengue program administration. Major public and private hospitals of Karachi have not been sharing the data of dengue cases since long. The dengue prevention and control programme has been non-factional since its up-gradation. Last year an influential minister had showed displeasure over the ever-increasing dengue cases and deaths and warned that if any dengue case was reported in future he would take action against the responsible officers. Since then though the dengue continued to torment Karachiites, the sharing of dengue data with media and public was stopped.
The sources said peak season dengue viral fever had already begun in Sindh province from August and is expected to continue till December 2014 but dengue prevention and control programme was still non-functional due to lack coordination between government-run hospitals and dengue program management, which has put hundreds of lives at stake in Karachi city and other parts of province.
An example of this poor coordination between institutions is that two persons died from dengue fever two days ago – one in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and other in a private hospital – but the administration of these hospitals did not bother to share these cases with the dengue prevention and control programme officials, as their provincial programme manager showed his ignorance about deaths when news of these dengue deaths were aired on various TV channels.
Sources said the Sindh health department up-graded Sindh dengue surveillance cell into dengue prevention and control programme about seven months back and also allocated millions of rupees for the purpose of surveillance and prevention in the year 2014 but the programme still goes non-functional despite the passage of several months.
On the other hand, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) carried out anti-dengue fumigation campaign in phases but many areas were still deprived of this fumigation due to shortage of funds. The sources said that dozens of dengue cases were being reported in different hospitals of Karachi on daily basis, but this data was being hidden from the public so as not to create embracement for the provincial government that has already been criticised bitterly in media on its bad governance.
The sources said the actual number of dengue deaths and dengue cases could be much higher as there was no mechanism in place to record the actual data, while the coordination between the government departments, including the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, health services directorate and provincial dengue control programme was not visible.
Provincial Programme Manager, Dengue Prevention & Control Program, Mohammad Shakeel Aamir Mullick, told PPI that the mosquito-borne dengue virus had already claimed 11 lives in 2014 and 775 cases had been reported from different hospitals of Sindh.
He said some hospitals were sharing the data with programme administration on regular basis but few public and private hospitals were not sharing information with them. He said notices were being sent to hospitals managements over the negligence in sharing data.
on”>Pes� r/� � , Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu and Tank have been declared as extremely sensitive areas whereas deferral of cellular service in Abbottabad, Kohat, Gilgit and Skardu will be kept on.
Authorities have decided to impose curfew in some areas of Bannu on 9th and 10th Muharram as part of security measures for mourning processions. The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Deputy Commissioner Bannu, Muhammad Ayaz. The meeting decided that a curfew would be imposed on the route of processions that would emerge on 9th and 10th Muharram in different areas of Bannu district.
In Peshawar, ban on pillion riding is enforced from Muharram 1 and will continue till 10. Being close to Khyber Agency, extra security measures have been put in place where Police, Rangers and Army will be ensuring the security of the processions.
All the entry and exit points in Hangu have been sealed for security reasons. Extra ordinary security arrangements have been made in Quetta which in the past had seen incidents of terrorism against the Hazara Shia community. All roads leading to the main processions have been blocked and additional police and FC personnel have been deployed.
