The chances of breeding of dengue mosquitoes have increased due to unexpectedly high rainfall, therefore all government departments should be prepared to tackle the disease according to their standard operating procedures.
These views were expressed by Provincial Minister for Labour and Manpower Raja Ashfaq Sarwar while presiding over a dengue review meeting here at the Commissioner’s Office.
Sarwar said all government departments should learn from the experiences of previous years and work in close coordination to fight dengue.
Negligence on the part of any department will be not tolerated, Sarwar said, adding that citizens should clean potential dengue breeding sites in their surroundings and government departments should work on a war footing, to make sure dengue is controlled this year.
He said administrations of Islamabad and Rawalpindi should work in close coordination and especially focus on the boundary areas of the twin cities. Adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique said every suspected dengue case should be treated to eliminate the disease. He said proper training of general practitioners should be conducted and it should be ensured that all private hospitals have facilities similar to public hospitals ready to tackle dengue patients.
Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed said all government departments had done their planning in February and March to tackle dengue, adding that the strategies are now being implemented. MNA Malik Abrar, Asia Naz Tanooli, Tahira Aurangzeb, MPAs Raja Hanif Advocate, Chaudhry Sarfraz Afzal, Raja Mohammad Ali, Zaibunnisa Awan and Shaukat Bhatti, DCO Sajid Zafar Dall, and officials from the health, education, environment, agriculture and other departments were also present.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2014.