PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has ordered removal of Peshawar district health officer for showing laxity in prevention and control of dengue fever as the provincial capital continues to record more cases of the vector-borne ailment.

Chairing a high level meeting here on Monday, the chief minister expressed deep concerns over the soaring cases of dengue in Peshawar. He ordered immediate removal of Peshawar DHO, said a press release.

DHO Dr Azmatullah Khan was asked to report to directorate-general of health services while Dr Ikramullah Khan, the additional director of public health, was asked to look after the position, said a notification issued by health department.

A health department report said that one person died of dengue in Bannu and 99 new cases were reported in the province. So far, seven people have passed away due to dengue fever in the province.

CM orders officials to launch door-to-door awareness campaign

The meeting was convened to take stock of situation with regard to mosquitoes-born disease. It was apprised of the measures being taken for dengue control in the province where chief minister showed dismay over the spiraling rate of virus in the provincial capital. Peshawar has so far recorded 1,834 cases of the province-wide 5,206.

The meeting was informed that the government appointed 37 entomologists to help prevent the occurrence of dengue fever in the province.

Special Assistant to Chief Minister Kamran Khan Bangash, MNAs Shaukat Ali, Noor Alam Khan and Arbab Sher Ali besides MPAs Arbab Jehandad Khan, Pir Fida, Asif Khan and Fazle Illahi, Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Amjad Ali Khan and others were present on the occasion.

Mr Khan instructed the relevant officials to launch door-to-door campaign to scale up public awareness on preventive measures against dengue through effective coordination among the line departments.

A committee comprising elected representatives and officials concerned would be constituted to ensure measures in the endemic areas and put brakes on the transmission of the virus. The MNAs and MPAs extended their cooperation to the officials in this regard.

The chief minister also directed the quarters concerned to form a fact finding committee and submit a report to examine utilisation of funds released for prevention of dengue. He ordered free diagnosis of the suspected patients.

He said that meetings should take place on weekly basis with the public representatives on anti-dengue measures. The departments of health and local government besides Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) were ordered to check the efforts being taken against dengue.

Mr Khan said that negligence would not be tolerated as protection of people’s lives was the top priority of the government. He added that all available resources were being utilised for prevention and control of dengue.

Of the total infected persons, 3,589 dengue patients including 171 recorded during the last 24 hours have recovered. The province has 1,610 active cases. Peshawar recorded 33 fresh patients during the 24 hours, the highest number of dengue patients registered by any district.

A total of 252 patients are in hospitals due to dengue including 113 in Peshawar. Health department has tested 32,883 suspected persons so far. Two persons have died in Khyber, one each in Bannu, Haripur, Mansehra, Nowshera and Swabi due to dengue so far.

Meanwhile, four persons died of coronavirus and 34 new infections were diagnosed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to a health department report.

Convid-19 mortalities in the province reached 5,722 and incidences 177,553. Of the infected persons, 169,278 coronavirus patients including 88 recorded during the last 24 hours have recovered. There are 2,553 active coronavirus patients in the province.

The report said that 8862 suspected people were tested for the virus. It said that three persons died in Peshawar and one in Mardan due to Covid-19. A total of 391 coronavirus patients have been hospitalised in the province with 30 of them on ventilators.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2021