HYDERABAD, Oct 21: The district health officer here has stated that there has been a surge in cases of dengue fever in the district but the Sindh malaria control programme division is not doing its job.

Hyderabad DHO Dr Ghulam Mustafa Abbasi was speaking at a press conference in his office on Monday. The district officer for health, Dr Ahmed Hyder, was also present.

Dr Abbasi said in all 3,077 patients with complaints of a high-grade fever reported to four government facilities in Hyderabad for dengue tests and 409 of them were confirmed till Sunday.

According to a breakdown, he said, 376 and 33 cases were, respectively, found positive in laboratories of the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) and the Bhitai hospital in Latifabad. Likewise, he said, 2,844 patients had reported for tests to the LUH city branch, 203 to the Bhitai hospital, 10 to the Paretabad hospital and 20 to the Qasimabad taluka hospital.

He said an area-wise breakdown showed that 348 of the 409 patients reported to different hospitals for treatment. Of them, he said, 270 belonged to City taluka, 52 to Latifabad, eight to Qasimabad, one to Hyderabad (rural) taluka and 17 to the Cantonment area, whereas 121 patients sought consultation in the outpatient department of various hospitals.

The remaining 61 cases did not report to any government health facility, he said.

He linked the surge in dengue cases to insanitation. He said so far the health department had carried out fumigation twice in the city.

At a recent meeting Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon had called for a crash programme against dengue fever in the district for which he talked to the Sindh chief secretary for the release of Rs5 million.

“The amount will be hopefully released soon,” said the DHO.

He said dengue mosquito became active before sunset and sunrise and that were the moments when anti-mosquito sprays could be effective.

He said 10 teams had been formed to fumigate certain areas. “Around 30 machines will be provided with trained staff by the DHO,” he added.

He said technical assistance was always provided to the municipal authorities for fumigation and his office also provided the required chemical and staff for technical soundness.

“We get chemical from the malaria control programme of Sindh which is accordingly given to the municipal authorities of the city,” he said.

District officer Dr Ahmed Hyder said that as per the Sindh Local Government Act 2012 fumigation was the municipal corporations’ responsibility.

“The civic bodies conducted the first spray from Sept 9 to 15 and the second was to begin on Oct 7,” he said.

He said people should cover their overhead and underground water tanks. Similarly, the district officer said, they should be careful in watering gardens or washing vehicles.

He added that another spray was done in July after the health authorities provided them with the chemical for spray and said that figures were being obtained from government hospital laboratories where dengue patients were being tested through rapid dengue test kits.