Dengue claims two more lives in KP

PESHAWAR: There seems to be no decline in dengue epidemic as the mosquito-borne disease on Sunday claimed two more lives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and has infected 666 people in the past two days, the provincial Health Department said.

The disease, declared as an epidemic by the provincial government, has taken 20 lives so far in KP.

The virus first emerged in Peshawar’s crowded Tehkal locality in July and later became an epidemic spreading to nearby Pishtakhara area after, according to the residents and some senior government officials, the government didn’t pay proper attention to the virus.

Those who have died of the dengue virus include a 20-year old Mansoor, resident of Sufaid Dheri, Peshawar. He was suffering from dengue fever and admitted to the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), where he lost his battle against the disease.

The second patient was a three-year-old boy, Sadaqat, belonging to Shalbandai area in Buner district. He was first admitted in a hospital in Buner and was later brought to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Peshawar, where he succumbed to the virus.

The government claimed to have conducted an extensive campaign by sending its teams for spraying larvicides in the dengue-affected areas and distributing mosquitoes’ repellent lotions among the residents.

However, like other residents, a senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and member of National Assembly from Peshawar complained about insufficient measures taken for protection of people in the affected areas.

The PTI MNA from Peshawar didn’t want to be named.

“I don’t want to embarrass my party leadership but the provincial government, the deputy commissioner and Town-III nazim have miserably failed in playing their due role before and after the dengue epidemic in Peshawar. I don’t know about plight of other people as being an MNA of the ruling party, I could not convince the deputy commissioner and Town-III nazim to send their teams and spray in our areas,” he complained.

He termed recent efforts of the government for dengue eradication as “cosmetic” and “eyewash” to befool the public.

“A woman died of dengue in front of my house. Her husband, brother-in-law and sister-in-law are under treatment in a public sector hospital. I couldn’t see a single government official visit them or send a team to conduct fumigation in their house and their neighbourhood,” the PTI MNA complained.

The Dengue Response Unit (DRU) said in a report that 666 people were tested positives in the past two days.

As per the data released by the Dengue Response Unit (DRU) of provincial health department, 3,731 patients were taken to different hospitals of the province on Saturday and Sunday.

The majority of patients suffering from fever were taken to the three tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar.

After their screening, 666 of them were tested positive and 515 were hospitalised.

The report said that 292 patients recovered and were discharged from the hospitals.

The Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), as usual, received the largest number of dengue patients.

It received 2019 patients in two days and after their screening, 390 were found dengue positive and 91 were admitted in the hospital. The hospital is presently providing services to 210 indoor dengue patients.

The Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) received 645 patients and 80 of them were diagnosed with dengue virus after screening of all the patients.

According to the DRU report, 32 dengue patients were admitted to the hospital in the past two days.

Similarly, the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) received 485 patients and after their screening, 95 of them were tested dengue positive.

Of them, 20 patients were able to get beds in the hospital. The HMC is currently having 57 indoor dengue patients.

Other public and private hospitals in Peshawar also reported dengue positive cases.

Situation in Mardan had improved and no positive case was reported in the past few days, but 15 patients were diagnosed with dengue on Saturday.

Similarly, Swabi district reported eight dengue positive cases, Kohat three and two patients were tested positive in Abbottabad on Saturday.

As per the DRU report, Naseerullah Babar Hospital in Peshawar and Buner reported five cases each, Abbottabad six and Mansehra two. More than 6,000 people have been diagnosed as dengue positive in KP since July 2017.