In the wake of increase in dengue cases in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad, Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman ordered the authorities to expedite anti-dengue activities in all these four high-risk districts.
He issued these orders while presiding over a meeting on dengue control at the Civil Secretariat here on Wednesday. The Chief Secretary said that effective measures should be taken to control dengue in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad. He directed that monitoring and surveillance be improved in high-risk districts and special attention be paid to clinical management of dengue patients for keeping the mortality rate to a minimum. He said that the best facilities should be provided in the hospitals for the treatment of dengue patients. The Chief Secretary said that joint efforts should be continued to eradicate dengue. He also gave instructions to ensure case response as per SOPs. He said that administrative officers should continue to visit DHQ and THQ hospitals regularly to improve the quality of health facilities.
Secretary Health Ali Jan gave a detailed briefing at the meeting. He said that 660 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported this year and an alert has been issued after a rapid increase in dengue cases in Faisalabad. He said that in August, 102 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported in Lahore, 60 in Rawalpindi, 47 in Multan and 28 in Faisalabad.
The health department officials attended the meeting while divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad participated through video link.
Moreover, Deputy Commissioner Kasur Muhammad Irshad Bhatti on Wednesday said the rescue and relief operation was accelerated in flood effected areas including Talwar post, Kothi Fateh Muhammad, Titara Kamil, Gandha Singh wala and others. Currently, the flow of water at Talwar post was recorded as 118,652 cusecs.
According to the press release issued, the Deputy Commissioner said that as many as 2355 people along with 622 cattle were shifted to safer place whereas 3106 people were being provided transportation.
He said sufficient stock of medicine including anti-snake bite, anti-rabies was available at 11 medical camps. So far 26,000 people were being provided with food at flood relief camps, said the release.
