KARACHI: According to PM’s Special Assistant on National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza over 10,000 people have tested positive for dengue in the country (2,363 in Punjab, 2,258 in Sindh, 1,814 in KP & 1,772 in Balochistan).
Although it is impossible to get the correct figure from all the nooks and corners of the country that harbors population near ocean, lakes, on deserts, mountains and valleys, this figure of ten thousand too is alarming. Moreover, it has officially been stated that the figure would rise dramatically in the coming days: “During the last 48 hours, the number of patients having increased with the number expected to rise in the coming 7-10 days,” said the Sp. Asstt.
Dr. Mirza told the Media that Federal Government was in contact with provinces and was endeavoring to rein in the dengue epidemic: “A Dengue Control Operational Center has been set-up in Islamabad which would daily review the dengue-related situation across the country review steps to control it.” he told. He told that general public could get information about Dengue by calling hotlines 051-9212601 and 9216890 that would be operational 24/7.
According to Dr. Mirza expert physicians would be responding to the epidemic-related queries on telephone round-the-clock. He informed that an Emergency Centre had been established at National Institute of Health (NIH) ten days ago and the entire statistics were available on the NIH website on a daily basis.
Dr Mirza claiming that the health department had been fumigating the most affected areas held: “With a possible increase in the number of patients in the coming days, the situation would be in complete control till the end of this month.”
Commenting on the tragic death of a ten-year-old victim of dog-bite in Larkana due to non-availability of rabies vaccine, PM’s Special Assistant on National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza blamed previous governments for not producing enough doses. He further claimed that PTI Government was taking measures to produce 900,000 doses.
