RAWALPINDI: The District Health Authority (DHA) found dengue larvae in 74 commercial places and 270 residential areas in different parts of the garrison city in the last one month.

This was stated by the health authority officials at a briefing given to the Punjab chief secretary through video link from the commissioner office.

Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha, DHA Chief Executive Officer Dr Ansar Ishaq, District Health Officer Dr Ehsan Ghani and other officials of the administration were present.

Speaking after the meeting, the commissioner said in view of the increase in the number of dengue larvae all heads of the departments have to play their proactive part in the anti-dengue activities.

Also, measures should be taken to make the environment clean by giving special importance to cleanliness in the anti-dengue campaign.He directed that field activities should be increased and rainwater drainage should be arranged on time so that stagnant water does not lead to dengue breeding. He said that weekly meetings should be held across tehsils under the chairmanship of the relevant assistant commissioners.

Activities of all the departments should be reviewed and necessary instructions be issued immediately.Apart from this, the administrative officers should monitor the performance of the teams while being present in the field. On this occasion, the CEO health while giving a briefing said that along with the work done by the health department teams from Rawalpindi and Islamabad were jointly working on IJP Road and the expressway.

“The border areas are ensuring solid waste management and giving priority to environmental cleanliness. Apart from the concerned government departments, the general public is also being actively involved in it so that even before the dengue season, the threat of dengue breeding can be minimised by keeping the environment clean,” he said.

“It is being checked through third party validation. Since January 1, dengue larvae have been found in 270 houses during indoor vector surveillance.Similarly, in outdoor checking, larvae were identified at 74 spots where required action was taken,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2023