Dengue patients pouring in Rawalpindi hospitals: adviser

Lahore DCO says situation in DHA improving due to strict monitoring policy

LAHORE

Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique has said that dengue patients are regularly pouring in the hospitals of Rawalpindi from the adjacent areas of Islamabad.

He urged upon the administration of Islamabad to take concrete dengue surveillance measures so that dengue could not turn into epidemic.

He expressed these views while chairing a Cabinet Committee meeting on dengue via video link from Rawalpindi in S&GAD Committee Room, Civil Secretariat, according to a handout issued here on Thursday. 

Besides elected public representatives, Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah,  environment secretary, senior officers of all the departments concerned were present. Commissioners and DCOs of Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahab, Kasur, Jhelum and Attock also attended the meeting through video link.

Lahore DCO Capt (R) Muhammad Usman informed the meeting that the monitoring of dengue surveillance activities in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) was being done by the City District Government and due to strict monitoring policy the situation in the DHA was improving day by day. 

The PITB director informed the meeting that in September no dengue related activity had so far been uploaded by the CDA or Islamabad administration on the dashboard of PITB.

Kh Salman Rafique said that he had previously held several meetings with the authorities in Islamabad and their attention was drawn to this important issue. He said that he was again on visit to Rawalpindi for this purpose. He said that he was in close contact with them and situation would soon be controlled. The senior officers of different departments, divisional commissioners and DCOs briefed the meeting on the outdoor/indoor dengue surveillance activities carried out by the various departments to check dengue in their districts.

seminar: Alzheimer’s Pakistan organised a grand quiz progamme and a seminar “Healthy Lifestyle Reduces the Risk of Dementia” at a local hotel on Thursday with a view to creating awareness about the disease among medical students.

Doctors, medical students, caregivers and people from all walks of life attended the event which started with a seminar on Alzheimer’s disease. Leading clinicians, including Dr Muhammed Nasrullah of Wapda Teaching Hospital, Dr Ali Hashmi of King Edward Medical College, Dr Sadaf Rasheed of Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Brig (R) Mowadat Hussain Rana and Dr Ruhi Khalid, dean of Psychology Beaconhouse National University, addressed the audience on the prevalence, diagnosis, treatment, management and counseling of people living with dementia and their caregivers. After the seminar, quiz was participated by the 13 teams from the public sector and private medical colleges, including Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore, Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore and Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi.  In the first phase of the quiz, an awareness campaign was run throughout the month of September in each participating medical college and medical students were registered for the quiz. A preliminary quiz was held in all the respective medical colleges on the basis of which top five students from each institution were selected. These five students comprised each medical college’s team and participated in the grand quiz finale.

Famous artist Adeel Hasmi was the quiz master at the finale of the grand quiz. 

At the closing ceremony of the quiz, Dr Hussain Jafri, secretary general, Alzheimer’s Pakistan, talked on the impact of Alzheimer’s disease in Pakistan and what services were provided by Alzheimer’s Pakistan in this regard. He highlighted the urgent need for the government to implement policies and legislation to provide a better quality of life for people with dementia.