Effective steps bring dengue deaths to zero in KP so far

ISLAMABAD: After taking reins in the province, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has managed to bring down dengue related deaths to zero while the number of patients affected by the virus have also seen significant reduction, official data shows.
While Punjab is still struggling to control dengue outbreak with at least seven confirmed deaths so far this year while KP has not witnessed a single death from the deadly virus in the corresponding period.
According to certified information provided to The News by Director General Health Services, KP 2013 was the deadliest year for the province when it comes to dengue fever as 43 patients died after contracting the virus. This was the year when PTI government was installed in KP.
For next two years, not a single dengue related death was reported officially, according to documents released under the KP right to information law. According to official documents 11,818 patients of dengue were registered in KP in 2013 while the number of patients reduced to only 908 in 2014. This year, so far 2,040 dengue patients have been recorded in the province. However death toll for 2014 and 2015 remained nil, says the document.
The certified document also revealed that an amount of Rs59 million was spent by the provincial government on anti-dengue measures during the fiscal year 2013-14. The amount was largely spent on chief minister’s emergency fund. “For the financial year 2014-15 another Rs20.6 million was earmarked to curb dengue in KP. For the ongoing fiscal year the procurement process is still under way,” says the DG Health KP in response to a query by The News about the fiscal details of anti-dengue measures.
The News had sent the similar information request to the Punjab government under Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013 but so far no response has been given by the health department.
However, according to media reports, at least seven dengue related deaths have been confirmed in the province in 2015 so far. The Director General (DG) Health Punjab, Dr Amjad Shahzad has told newsman that 4,200 dengue cases had been reported in Punjab this year. Most of these cases (3,260) were reported in Rawalpindi while over 300 were reported in Multan and 112 in Lahore.