RAWALPINDI: It was the inefficiency of the district health department that caused the spread of dengue in the district but its officials are passing the buck to other departments and people coming from Swat, district government official requesting not to be named told Dawn.

“The health department should have launched the drive against dengue mosquito larvae in May or June but it did it in August after Eidul Fitr which was too late,” he said.

However, after failing to achieve the target, the health department entered the blame game.

“The health department squarely laid the blame on town municipal administrations, Wasa and solid waste management department as well as neighbouring civic agencies, cantonment boards and Capital Development Authority (CDA) for the breeding of mosquitoes,” the official told Dawn.

“Last year, Rawalpindi was declared dengue-free district and the health department was credited for this achievement. It was awarded cash prize of Rs50,000 as well as appreciation letter by the Punjab chief minister but this year, the situation is quite opposite,” he said.

An official of the health department, on condition of anonymity, accepted that the anti-dengue drive was not started on time.

“We were busy in campaigns against polio and measles and therefore could not pay attention to dengue in the city and rural areas,” he said.

The official said most cases were reported from areas bordering Islamabad, especially I.J. Principal Road.

He said in September, over 20 cases were reported from Dhama Syedan.

“Two employees of District Health Office and Holy Family Hospital were also affected by the virus. Ali Asghar works with the District Health Department and Mohammad Naeem with Holy Family Hospital’s blood transfusion department. Both reside in Khayaban-i-Sir Syed,” he said.

When contacted, Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) Cantonment Executive Officer Rana Manzoor Ahmed Khan said they had already completed phase one of dengue spray in April and May while the second phase was completed in August and September and due to timely anti-dengue drive, few people were affected buy the disease.

He said that surrounding areas of the cantonment including Adiala Road and Chakri’s rural areas were not fumigated by the departments concerned of the district and the dengue virus entered in the cantonment localities.

“It was the duty of the district health department to make timely arrangements for the fumigation. The RCB made special arrangements in Cantonment General Hospital for the dengue patients,” he said.

Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) official said that they had repaired all the leaking water supply lines before the summer season and there was no such case reported regarding water accumulation in the city.

On the other hand, the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) has run out of beds for dengue patients and had to shift five suspected patients to Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

Total 103 patients were admitted to HFH till Monday evening of them 56 were dengue patients.

“Five new patients arrived but there was no more beds for the dengue patients so they had been sent to BBH,” said a senior doctor.

“The HFH made arrangement for 90 patients and 10 beds allocated for emergency purposes,” he said.

To a question about the new dengue serology machine, he said that the machine had arrived from District Headquarters Hospital Attock where dengue situation was not that serious as few cases were reported there and the hospital gave the machine to HFH for this season.