PESHAWAR: The health department has started taking preventive measures against Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever as cases of the disease have begun to emerge in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Officials told this scribe that they were waiting for emergency fund to ensure procurement of essential items as early as possible because the hot and humid season was approaching during which cases could swell.

So far 19 confirmed dengue patients have been recorded in the province with Mardan reporting 10 cases, Peshawar and Bajaur three each and Kohat, Chitral Lower and Bannu districts one each case. Two of the patients had travel history to Saudi Arabia.

Officials said that the chief secretary approved a request by the health department for release of the Rs171 million funds to augment the preparations and save the situation from going last year’s way when the disease infected more than 23,000 people and killed 18 of them.

Officials say they need early release of emergency fund to buy essential items

Last year, the government had sanctioned Rs275 million emergency funds for prevention of the outbreak of the mosquitoes-borne aliment in August but only Rs104 million was released by the finance department and the rest of 171 million was not released.

Officials said that health department had spent half of the 104 million because it had been released in August when the disease was heading towards peak season. However, they said that the chief secretary had directed for release of the reaming amount as procurement had been started.

“We have already buffer stock of larvicides, which can be used to take preventive measures but the department requires release of the emergency money left over from last year. In case of upswing in cases, we would need more money,” officials in health secretariat told Dawn.

They said that as no emergency was declared in the province, therefore, all the procurements would be made as per normal procedure that took at least three months. “In order to strengthen preparatory work, we need the amount to ensure full-scale anti-dengue activities including public awareness, surveillance and monitoring and case diagnosis and management,” they added.

Meanwhile, a district health officer in one of the high-risk areas told Dawn that the health department was required to pay the amount to the staffers, who had already spent on fuel and other activities from their own pockets. “The chief secretary has recently chaired a meeting of administrative secretaries wherein he has categorically directed them to adopt multisectoral approach to ensure prevention of the ailment,” he added.

He said that they demanded of the local government, education and other departments to play their part in prevention of the outbreak of the disease. He added that the recent rains had left pools of stagnant water, which needed to be sprayed because those were potential breeding sites for mosquitoes, the transmitters of the disease.

“Similarly, education department should start awareness sessions in morning assemblies in schools to scale up students’ knowledge about the causes of dengue and its prevention,” said the district health officer.

He feared that cases would surge next month if they failed to take preventive measures, especially elimination of standing water pools and urging the people not to store water in open pots so the mosquitoes’ production could be stopped.

Physicians at the hospitals say that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been home to the vector-borne sickness for the past few years mainly due to delayed allocation of funds, which hampers steps to prevent its outbreak.

Training of doctors and other professionals to ensure effective surveillance and investigation of suspected people and management of the cases at hospitals is in progress but early procurement is most important because cases rise during July to September.

The Dengue Action Plan 2023 has already been approved. The plan is meant to ensure prevention of the disease as well as manage the infected patients.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2023