Pakistan Today
Despite hectic efforts and campaigns to educate the people for taking precautionary measures, dengue has returned to Lahore as two more dengue patients were admitted in hospital on Saturday, INP reported.
According to sources, two more dengue patients were admitted in Mayo Hospital Lahore after they were brought to the hospital for medical check up. The patients were identified as Muhammad Farooq, 22, resident of Chonian area and Razia Bibi, 40, of Shadipura area. The doctors diagnosed that they were suffering from dengue fever and shifted them to dengue ward of the hospital. Their condition was said to be out of danger.
TYRE DISPOSAL PUT ON HOLD AS DENGUE THREAT LOOMS: While the dengue epidemic is resurfacing, the Punjab government has failed to take the precautionary measures it had announced last year, to minimise the possibility of mass deaths, GNI reported.
The lethargic attitude of the provincial government is evident from the fact that despite issuing instructions and guidelines last October, which included disposing off used tyres, it has yet to take any steps to secure the people against the dengue virus.
Since the dengue threat this time round is feared to be more lethal than the previous year, the government’s lethargy is bound to add to the miseries of the Punjabi people.
Last year’s guidelines were provided in writing to all the administrative secretaries by the Punjab chief secretary.
Since old motor vehicle tyres act as incubators and transporters for the dengue mosquito and its larvae, their proper disposal was necessary to prevent the spread of the epidemic by eliminating the source.
According to a survey, the government sector possesses a major portion of the province’s old tyres’ stocks. In this regard, each department of the Punjab government was instructed to identify, enlist and quantify all used tyres’ stocks in workshops, warehouses, garages etc of its subordinate offices, attached departments, special institutions and autonomous bodies. All the tyres in stock were then to be shredded or chopped manually or mechanically and were to be stored in covered areas or under plastic sheets. Some of these tyres were to be disposed of by auctioning them.
According to these instructions, all the commissioners and District Co-ordination Officers (DCOs) were asked to provide the necessary assistance to the departments and field formations for shredding and chopping tyres.
Two committees were also constituted for suggesting measures regarding the disposal or auction of the shredded tyres and for assessing the specifications for reusable and unusable stocks of old tyres in consultation with tyre dealers. The committees were also asked to constitute field teams to ensure that all unusable tyres were shredded or chopped and that all the usable tyres were stored in covered and fumigated areas.
In addition, the Punjab health department was asked to request the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, the cabinet and defense secretaries to issue directions to the federal government agencies working in the province for the implementation of the dengue control regulations. The Local Government and Community Development Department (LG&CD) secretary was instructed to depute his field teams to checking petrol pumps, CNG stations and tyre shops and to dispose off old tyres.
The Home Secretary was asked to ensure that no new tyres are imported into the province. The divisional commissioners were to be held responsible for the implementation of these instructions in the areas of their jurisdiction while the commissioners and DCOs were asked to assist the government departments in carrying out these instructions. The IGP and Provincial Police Officer were directed to request for police assistance when required.
As the dengue threat waned last year with the change in the weather, these instructions were put on the back burner. The dengue virus is emerging again as a huge threat to the lives to the people of Punjab, since the provincial government has apparently lost interest in the issue.
Many officials, who were engaged in the dengue prevention exercises, were convinced from the beginning that efforts of such a large magnitude could not be undertaken until the entire provincial machinery was geared up to its optimal operational level.
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