Plan finalised to stem dengue fever outbreak

Rawalpindi
The district health department has finalised micro plans for all seven tehsils of the district along with Potohar Town, Rawal Town and areas falling under the jurisdiction of cantonment boards to avoid a possible outbreak of dengue fever this year.
The health department started imparting training to almost all its staff including doctors on preventive measures needed to avoid a possible spike of the infection and has started arranging logistics needed to eliminate possible breeding sites of mosquitoes, aedes aegypti, the vector that causes dengue fever.
We have already trained almost all the concerned staff employed at the health department including doctors on preventive and surveillance measures to avoid dengue fever outbreak, said District Health Officer Dr. Rafiq Ahmed while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday.
He said the micro plans for carrying out preventive and surveillance activities against dengue fever have also been finalised for all seven tehsils of the district including Taxila, Murree, Gujar Khan, Kallar Syedan, Kotli Satyan, Kahuta and Rawalpindi.
He added that not only the concerned staff at the health department but also the master trainers in as many as 26 district allied departments like Education, Agriculture and Livestock, Auqaf, Railways and cantonment boards have been imparted training through refresher courses to prevent a possible dengue fever outbreak that severely hit district in the last two years.
To a query, the DHO said the district health department is arranging Temephos Granules and Deltamethrin solution for sprinkling on unnecessary water accumulations that cannot be removed for avoiding breeding of aedes aegypti. “The listing of possible breeding sites throughout district is in progress,” he said.
He added all the staff at the district health department has been sensitised on importance of preventive measures against dengue fever while the master trainers of the allied departments have been asked to create awareness among staff in their respective departments on measures needed to avoid dengue fever outbreak.
We have given special attention to training of staff in high-risk areas of the district particularly Rawal Town and areas falling under jurisdiction of cantonment boards from where majority of confirmed cases of dengue fever were reported last year, said Dr. Rafiq while responding to a query.
He added that the district health department would soon launch larvae identification and elimination campaign all across the district to prevent breeding of the vector that causes dengue fever.