RAWALPINDI: The garrison city reported another 26 dengue patients in the last four days, taking this season’s overall tally to 137.

Despite spending funds and recruiting manpower for the anti-dengue drive, the District Health Authority has failed to control the virus from spreading in Rawalpindi.

Experts had warned the health authority that the dengue virus would spread after the rains and it had to fumigate the low-lying areas. But the authority ignored the directives and instead preferred to give presentations to higher authorities about the challans and fines they had issued to violators of the standard operating procedures.

After heavy rains in the garrison city, the number of dengue patients has increased. Most of the dengue patients arrived in the three government-run hospitals from areas adjacent to Leh Nullah including Chaklala, Dhoke Munshi, Naseerabad, Dhoke Kashmirian, Chamanzar Colony, Dhoke Mangtal, Rehmatabad and cantonment areas.

According to official figures, 137 dengue patients reached Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital this season.

As many as 103 patients were discharged from the hospitals after getting treatment but 24 were still admitted.

As many as 30pc women were affected by the virus while 70pc men reported in the hospitals. So far, 87 patients arrived from Rawalpindi city, 25 from Islamabad, eight from Attock and one patient each from Bhakhar, Gujrat, Kohat, Laki Marwat, Mianwali and Muzaffarabad.

However, the District Health Authority has no data from private hospitals, clinics and medical practitioners, though the majority of the people prefer private clinics.

The report stated that the teams checked 21,528 houses last week and found dengue larvae in 669 houses while inspected 10,239 outdoor spaces and found dengue larvae in 183 spots.

It stated that 15 outlets were sealed, 71 FIRs lodged, Rs257,000 fine imposed and 13 challans were issued over violation of standard operating procedures by the owners of the commercial outlets.

District Health Officer Dr Sajjad Mehmood was not available for comment on the measures taken by the authority to avoid further spread of the dengue virus.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2023