Measures against dengue reviewed

Rawalpindi:Provincial Health Minister Dr. Jamal Nasir while presiding over an anti-dengue meeting along with Commissioner (Rawalpindi Division) Laiqat Ali Chatha said that the purpose of continuing anti-dengue activities throughout the year is to protect people from it by taking preventative measures before time, says a press release.

Taking strict notice of the absence of heads of various departments in the meeting, the Provincial Health Minister said that there is no room for negligence in anti-dengue activities. Instructing the heads of the absent departments including PHA, WASA, RDA and School Education to issue notices, Dr. Jamal Nasir said that the heads of the departments themselves should join the meeting. He directed that in view of the recent rains, immediate arrangements should be made for the drainage of stagnant rainwater in the city so that the water does not lead to flooding and also to destroy the wild bushes so that water does accumulate there.

Liaqat Ali Chatha said that all the surveillance teams of the health department along with the teams of the relevant departments have taken practical measures to prevent dengue effectively. The designated teams check graveyards, open water tanks, under-construction buildings and warehouses and other places on a daily basis to try to prevent dengue larva breeding and the teams to upload the data regularly to the dashboard for continuous monitoring. Similarly, in outdoor vector surveillance, 160,919 spots were visited from April 1 to April 30, 2023, out of which 134 were positive and required action was taken.