RAWALPINDI: The garrison city is no stranger to dengue outbreaks. Over the past couple of years, the virus has claimed hundreds of hapless victims, but it seems the administration has not learnt any lessons from past experiences and continues to take only stop-gap measures instead of evolving a long-term strategy to control outbreaks in the city.

This year too, it seems the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) was caught off-guard by the sudden outbreak of dengue cases at the tail-end of the season the disease usually flourishes in.

On Friday, officials outlined a ‘Micro Plan’, aimed at preventing further spread of the virus and eliminating conditions that allow it to thrive in parts of the city. But the question is, why did the district administration wait so long to take these steps, which surprisingly, coincided with the visit of the Punjab chief minister’s adviser on health, to Rawalpindi.

Rawalpindi has already made news for being the district with the highest number of dengue cases reported in the province. But rather than taking preemptive measures, the government has been jolted into action just as peak season is about to end.

Helpline for dengue control room inactive; no fumigation of at-risk areas before or after monsoon rains

In addition, Friday saw the city’s three main government hospitals receive 26 new dengue patients: 13 at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH), five at Benazir Bhutto Hospital and eight patients were admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital.

A senior doctor at HFH told Dawn that many patients who were thought to be infected with the virus had come to the hospital, but only 11 were admitted.

He said that the HFH had sent their samples to Lahore for tests to determine what strain of the virus they were suffering from.

The official figure of dengue patients in government-run hospitals has reached 150 in just the last three weeks. However, there is still no mechanism in place to provide patients checkup and treatment in private hospitals and clinics of the district.

Micro Plan

The CDGR’s much-touted ‘Micro Plan’ to implement and monitor dengue control activities of all government departments and organisations in Rawalpindi was unveiled at a meeting on Friday, attended by Khawaja Salman Rafique, the Punjab chief minister’s adviser on health. In it, the responsibilities of all concerned departments were clearly defined and the performance of all concerned is to be evaluated on a daily basis.

Commissioner Zahid Saeed and District Coordination Officer DCO Sajjad Zafar Dall also briefed the meeting. The adviser was told that control room has been set up at the EDO Health Office at Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, where health officials had been deputed and anyone could visit the room or contact them at 051-4931965 in case of an emergency, or to seek information about dengue control activities.

Dawn repeatedly called the given number several times on Friday, but only got a recording, which said, “The number you have dialed is not listed”.

Govt’s slackness flayed

Infectious Disease specialist Dr Muhammad Haroon told Dawn that in this region, peak dengue season starts in September and ends by the end of October. The government should have launched efforts to eliminate dengue larvae before monsoon and post-monsoon rains.

He regretted that they did not do so, nor was there any fumigation campaign in the areas around Nullah Leh. This is why, he said, fresh cases are all concentrated in the areas of Gawalmandi, Pirwadhai, Mohanpura, Nayya Mohallah, Arjannagar, Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, and Dhoke Ratta, which experienced flooding in the torrential rains witnessed last month. “Most of the patients that came to hospitals were from these areas,” he said.

A senior Rawal Town Municipal Administration official told Dawn that the clearance of waste and stagnant water from graveyards was the responsibility of the town municipal administrations in Potohar and Rawal Towns, but the senior officers were of the view that the civic bodies should wait until after Eid, as many people repair the graves of their loved ones on their own. Due to this negligence, the virus has now spread to many localities of the garrison city.

“The district administration failed to launch anti-dengue campaigns before the monsoon. Local officials did not do anything,” said former City District Nazim Raja Tariq Kiani.

PTI MPA from Taxila, Sadiq Khan, told Dawn that the PML-N government was busy with photo sessions and had not done anything constructive.

Former PML-N MNA Malik Shakeel Awan told Dawn that PTI had not hurt the PML-N as much as the bureaucracy had. He said that it was the duty of the local administration to provide civic facilities to the people but they failed to deliver.

Published in Dawn, October 11th , 2014