Punjab minister assures cooperation to contain dengue

PESHAWAR: Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Health Khwaja Imran Nazeer said here on Sunday his government was extending all-out support to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to contain the spread of dengue fever in the province.

Addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, he said, “We have examined about 1,000 patients since Saturday evening. And about 200 of them were diagnosed to be dengue-affected.”

He said the Punjab government would continue to serve the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as two additional mobile health units, six ambulances and three mobile laboratories would soon reach Peshawar for the purpose.

Flanked by Amir Muqam, advisor to the prime minister, and visiting doctors, the Punjab health minister said that the team of doctors was ready to work under supervision of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department.

“We repeatedly tried on Saturday to contact the KP Minister for Health Shahram Tarakai but he did not respond,” the Punjab minister said and suggested that both KP and Punjab should join hands to fight dengue in an effective manner.

“We have not come here to take the political credit. The only purpose of our visit is to provide timely medical treatment to the dengue patients. If the KP government avoids taking advantage of our experience, we on our own will continue to serve the people and will not leave the patients at mercy of the deadly virus,” the minister said.

He added that the best solution to the issue was to eradicate dengue, which needed launching of an effective campaign.

The Punjab minister said he along with a team of expert doctors and mobile health unit had arrived in the provincial capital to provide treatment and diagnosis facilities to people suffering from dengue.

“We wanted to jointly work with the KP government against dengue as we have sufficient experience of control over the fever. The people in KP are our brothers and sisters and we will extend them every kind of support without any political consideration as the dengue situation in Peshawar is critical,” he added.

He said that Punjab had sufficient experience of controlling dengue, adding the KP set-up should benefit from the experts of Punjab.

Speaking on the occasion, Amir Muqam said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz did not want to politicise the issue but just wanted to extend health facilities to the people in need on the humanitarian grounds.

“We will stand by the affected people. The additional support will arrive from Punjab very soon,” he said and appreciated the Punjab government for the cooperation.

Amir Muqam said that a 13-member committee of locals had been constituted to maintain liaison between the teams of doctors and public to facilitate the masses.

He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should avoid politicising issues and focus attention on public welfare to save precious lives.

The provincial government’s non-cooperation with the team of experts from Punjab proved that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was doing politics even at the cost of people’s lives, he added.

A senior doctor, Prof Dr Faisal Masood, also answered questions from the media persons. He said that besides providing medical treatment, the people were given necessary instructions to protect themselves from dengue.