First dengue death reported, 14 more hospitalised

Rawalpindi: The first death due to dengue fever during the year 2024 has been reported in Rawalpindi. The victim, a four years girl was admitted in a private hospital where she couldn’t survive and died.

The District Health Authority (DHA) has confirmed the death. Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Jawad, the in-Charge District Response Unit and the spokesman, said that the authority was engaged in multi-directional assignments regarding the eradication of dengue.

Talking to APP here on Thursday, Dr Jawad said the surveillance campaign has already been accelerated as the dengue favouring weather was approaching. The updated data released today by the DHA shows 14 more dengue fever cases were reported in the last 24 hours, making a total of 122 in the year to date.

However, 96 out of total patients have been discharged after full recovery from the allied hospitals, leaving 25 still under treatment. The field health workers are also engaged in door-to-door campaigns to check the presence of dengue larvae.

The report further highlights several punitive actions taken against the dengue SOPs violations. To a question on varying data on dengue updates which is regularly shared by the health authority, Dr. Jawad clarified that the data was strictly being monitored and regularly updated.

However, he said, the data by the private hospitals sometimes gets late. "But we are on it, and regularly sharing it on the central dashboard," he said giving details of Punjab’s central monitoring mechanism.

He also underlined the need to report verified data on media. Dr Jawad further appreciated the role of the media in creating awareness of the prevailing challenge of dengue eradication among the masses.