PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has developed the Dengue Action Plan, 2024, with a focus on the identification and destruction of mosquito larvae and strengthening surveillance and case management in local hospitals to prevent and control the infectious disease.

The plan has been sent to the chief secretary for approval, according to director (public health) at the directorate-general (health services) Dr Irshad Roghani.

He told Dawn that the plan contained measures for checking the production of mosquitoes, the carrier and transmitters of dengue virus, and the building of the capacity of hospital staff members for better case management to ensure that infected patients have access to diagnosis and treatment on time.

“We have demanded Rs145 million to execute the plan,”he said.

Health dept seeks Rs145m to execute plan, says official

The official said in view of the ongoing torrential rains and floods, the department also wanted to further strengthen coordination among the relevant departments to do away with stagnant pools of water to deny mosquitoes breeding spots,” he said.

Dr Roghani said case management was very important, as any laxity on part of health workers could create complications, including deaths.

He said patients would be treated at local hospitals, so the city’s hospitals didn’t get overwhelmed.

“For the first time, we will do stereotyping of the dengue virus to ensure that patients get services along scientific lines. The Public Health Reference Lab at Khyber Medical University is collaborating with the World Health Organisation for the identification of the virus and an effective response,” he said.

The director said a multi-sectoral strategy would be adopted under which efforts, in coordination with the relevant departments, would be made to eliminate stagnant water and other breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

He said the communication and works department would be taken on board to ensure the elimination of water pools near construction sites, while district administrations and tehsil municipal administrations would be involved to prevent the accumulation of water in and outside houses.

“Our women staff members will visit houses and inform the women on how to protect them from dengue through safe water storage and draining of water to avoid pools, while outside the house, our male staff will inform the community regarding the dangers posed by standing water and persuade them to eliminate those pools to prevent the production of mosquitoes,” he said.

Dr Roghani said residents were infected with dengue almost every year as the province was endemic, but during the last two years, the work of health workers against dengue has been excellent.

He said the province recorded 22,000 dengue cases and 18 deaths in 2022, but the number of cases came down to just 747 cases next year.

“We hope the incidence will go down further,” he said.

The director said dengue was “completely” preventable through the elimination of water pools, which the department was ensuring, while training programmes were also arranged for doctors, nurses, and paramedics to manage dengue cases at the local level.

He said awareness was key to dengue prevention, and therefore, the department would spread messages at the community level to inculcate a sense of fear and woo the people towards measures aiming to eliminate breeding points.

“A dengue control room will be established at the offices of the DG (health services) to evaluate activities in districts and intervene if the need arises,” he said.

Dr Roghani said the health department had decided to reserve 1,240 beds for dengue patients in public sector hospitals, including 300 in Peshawar-based health facilities.

“Every medical teaching institution will allocate one ward exclusively for dengue patients,”he said.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2024