Dengue cases rising in twin cities

RAWALPINDI: The twin cities saw a sharp increase in dengue cases in the last few days as 157 patients were admitted to hospitals on Wednesday.

In the garrison city, 99 patients landed in three hospitals.

Though the Holy Family Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital have established special dengue wards, Cantonment General Hospital failed to allocate beds and referred all dengue cases to Holy Family Hospital.

District Coordinator Epidemics Prevention and Control Dr Sajjad Mahmood claimed that out of 157 cases, 75 patients arrived from Islamabad.

He said among the 24 dengue patients, 14 came from the cantonment areas – 10 from the limits of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board and four from the area falling under the administrative control of Chaklala Cantonment Board. Five patients each came from Rawal Town and Potohar Town.

He said most patients came from Misrial Road, Range Road, Shalley Valley, Dhoke Mustaqeem and Naseerabad while some arrived from Dhoke Hassu, Satellite Town, Chaklala and Gangal union councils.

He said out of 126 beds allocated for dengue patients in the three government-run hospitals, 103 were occupied.

A senior official of the health authority told Dawn that soon after the recent heavy rains, his department had repeatedly asked the civic bodies of the cantonment to take measure to eliminate the dengue larvae.

Meanwhile, a meeting was held with Rawalpindi Cantonment Board Chief Executive Officer Umer Farooq Ali Malik in the chair to review the anti-dengue campaign.

The meeting was informed that the cantonment officials had sealed five godowns, issued notices to 45 commercial outlets and imposed fines amounting to Rs50,000 in markets over violation of anti-dengue SoPs.

Islamabad

District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Zaeem Zia told Dawn that 58 dengue cases were reported in Islamabad compared to 10 a day earlier.

Giving the breakup of cases, he said 26 were reported from the rural areas, including 13 from Tarlai, followed by five from Koral, two each from Alipur, Bhara Kahu, Sohan and one each from Sihala and Tarnol. Besides, 32 patients came from urban areas, the DHO said.

The number of cases in the capital reached 275, with 178 reported from the rural areas and 97 from the urban localities, he added.

During the last 24 hours, a separate team of the District Health Office visited 2,405 houses and found larva in stagnant water in 10 houses, Dr Zia said, adding that two containers were also found positive with larva during checking of open containers.

The teams destroyed 181 water containers and covered 649, he said, adding that 964 potential breeding sites were also eliminated.