LAHORE
As dry weather spell continues, thousands of dengue larvae recovery cases, particularly in Defence and its surrounding localities have been reported, creating panic and fear among the citizens.
The rising cases of larvae recovery have exposed the tall claims of the City District Government Lahore (CDGL), Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and other departments about their effective measures to stop dengue.
Inefficiency of the government departments responsible for controlling dengue can be gauged from the fact that recently dengue larvae was found from an under-construction building of Lahore Development Authority (LDA).
The district administration and Environment Protection Department (EPD) responsible for eliminating dengue larva from junkyards, nurseries, workshops and other related places have failed to fulfill their job. Sources said over 8,000 cases of dengue larvae recovery have so far been reported in many posh localities of the provincial capital.
EPD Director Dengue Surveillance Ms Nusrat said her teams were doing regular monitoring in the city. To a question about the dengue larvae recovery cases, she said the present temperature was favorable for dengue and the threat will remain till mid November.
Mujahid, a resident of Faisal Town, said he himself had seen dengue larvae in stagnant water in a public park near his home. He said he had reported the issue to EPD, but no action was taken. When no action was taken, the area people themselves put sand on the stagnant water, he said.
Meanwhile, a CDGL spokesman said the DCO along with a team visited many city localities and checked working of dengue surveillance teams and got feedback from the citizens. The DCO in his message to people said that they should take measures to eliminate dengue. He said stagnant water in water-coolers, plant and flower pots, rooftops and other inside areas should be removed. He appealed the citizens to cooperate with dengue surveillance teams.
under control: A video link conference on dengue review was informed that the dengue situation is under control due to effective larvae-cidal activities and better surveillance in all nine towns of the district.
The conference held at Civil Secretariat was chaired by Khawaja Salman Rafique on Tuesday.
According to a handout, Additional Chief Secretary, Punjab, Shamail Ahmad Khawaja was the Co-chairman while Commissioner, Rawalpindi, Azmat Ali along with other administrative officers and EDO (Health) were present. District Coordination Officer Muhammad Usman presented a briefing about the latest extent of spread and patient management situation of dengue patients in Lahore during the conference. The conference was informed that the situation of dengue spread in Lahore is under control due to effective larvae-cidal activities and better surveillance in all nine towns of the Lahore district except the DHA where 100 suspected patients of dengue fever have been identified and out of which 42 patients are confirmed for having dengue virus as the cause of their feverish condition. The DCO warned that this year the vector mosquitoes are contaminated with dengue-I type of virus while last year Dengue-II type of virus was prevalent. The population of Lahore has “Zero Immunity” against this species of dengue virus, so the patients are more vulnerable to become victims of hemorrhagic dengue fever if they had been exposed to Dengue-II type of virus in the last year.