RAWALPINDI: The number of dengue cases has increased in the city along with the temperature, with 24 more patients admitted to Rawalpindi’s three government-run hospitals on Sunday.

The patients were mainly from Islamabad, as the capital’s hospitals were unable to accommodate dengue patients themselves and referred all such cases to Rawalpindi’s already overburdened hospitals.

The situation has forced the health department to ask the district administration to take up the matter with the Islamabad administration, so that cases from the capital are dealt with by local hospitals and their designated dengue wards.

A senior Holy Family Hospital official told Dawn there were more than 150 people admitted to the dengue ward, half of whom were from Islamabad.

“The district administration has been requested to bring the issue to the notice of the federal government so the load of patients on Rawalpindi’s three hospitals will be reduced,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Ali Randhawa reviewed the anti-dengue campaign on Sunday and asked the district administration and provincial department to clear Dhoke Munshi of dengue larvae as soon as possible.

He said areas should be sprayed and fogged twice a day, in addition to all other precautionary measures, as the district administration does not want the district administration to spread to other parts of the city.

The meeting was informed that a total of 31 people visited the three government-run hospital, of which 24 tested positive for dengue.

“Five patients belonged to Rawalpindi and 19 are from Islamabad. A total of 15 dengue patients were male and nine are female,” a health official told the meeting.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Headquarters Saima Younas said dengue larvae was found in 142 houses and eight commercial sites on Sunday. A total of 2,729 houses and 305 commercial sites have been checked during the campaign.

She said that the Water and Sanitation Agency drained water from 10 empty plots in Dhoke Munshi and the environment department inspected 110 local tyre shops.

The meeting was also told that the Parks and Horticulture Authority had difficulty clearing wild bushes in the area and found snakes and insects. Ms Younas said the teams had completed 70pc of the activities to eliminate dengue in the area.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2019