Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Director Health Arshad Ahmad Khan has said that a war on dengue is the need of time and the disease can only be eliminated by crushing the virus.
In a press briefing at Peshawar, the DG health said the season of dengue would end in a month, and that the virus needs to be eliminated. He added that when fighting dengue, it should be done with the mentality, ‘kill a snake before it kills you’.
The health director said that rural areas were the most affected by the virus, however, there was no fresh attack of dengue in any district of KP. He added that he had paid a visit to affected regions with the deputy commissioners of corresponding areas.
He apprised media officials that only four hundred cases of dengue virus were predicted in Peshawar but in actuality about eleven hundred cases of dengue virus were reported this year.
Estimated patients of dengue fever in KP in 2017 were 126,000 while the virus was only confirmed in 24,000 people.
The DG health informed that a dengue control room had been set in every district of KP in January 2019.
DG health said that the confirmation of dengue virus is the duty of provincial health services and no doctor has the capability to predict dengue virus simply through tests.
Arshad Ahmad also commented on the shortage of anti-venom drugs at local District Health Offices, saying that the health department was working in its capacity to arrange those drugs.
Recently, 118 cases of dengue were reported in a single village in the south of Rawalpindi, taking the number of total dengue patients in Rawalpindi to 330. In response, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health had directed hospitals to take all necessary measures that focus on preventive care, provision of diagnostic facilities and availability of extra beds in the general wards.
In a press briefing at Peshawar, the DG health said the season of dengue would end in a month, and that the virus needs to be eliminated. He added that when fighting dengue, it should be done with the mentality, ‘kill a snake before it kills you’.
Dengue has been inhibited in five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa- Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Kurram and Haripur.
The health director said that rural areas were the most affected by the virus, however, there was no fresh attack of dengue in any district of KP. He added that he had paid a visit to affected regions with the deputy commissioners of corresponding areas.
He apprised media officials that only four hundred cases of dengue virus were predicted in Peshawar but in actuality about eleven hundred cases of dengue virus were reported this year.
The health director, in a reference to the opposition to the polio campaign, stressed upon the need to eliminate the risk of propaganda against health care schemes.
Estimated patients of dengue fever in KP in 2017 were 126,000 while the virus was only confirmed in 24,000 people.
The DG health informed that a dengue control room had been set in every district of KP in January 2019.
Moreover, Arshad Ahmad Khan stressed upon the need to eliminate fake laboratories. He said that government sector hospitals provide free dengue test but patients prefer private labs who conduct tests that wrongly establish the presence of the disease.
DG health said that the confirmation of dengue virus is the duty of provincial health services and no doctor has the capability to predict dengue virus simply through tests.
Arshad Ahmad also commented on the shortage of anti-venom drugs at local District Health Offices, saying that the health department was working in its capacity to arrange those drugs.
Recently, 118 cases of dengue were reported in a single village in the south of Rawalpindi, taking the number of total dengue patients in Rawalpindi to 330. In response, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health had directed hospitals to take all necessary measures that focus on preventive care, provision of diagnostic facilities and availability of extra beds in the general wards.