715 more infected in KP

PESHAWAR: Dengue has taken another life and infected 715 more people in the past two days in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial Health Department said.

With the latest loss, the death toll from dengue reached 21 and the majority of the dead belonged to the provincial capital.

Shamroz Khan, son of Qalandar Khan, became the latest victim of dengue.

He was 85-year old and was admitted to the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH). He was the resident of Mohallah Shamozai in Sarband.

The Dengue Response Unit (DRU) said the hospitals in KP received 3,520 patients in the two days and majority of them were suffering from high fever and other symptoms similar to dengue fever. After their screening, 715 of them were diagnosed with dengue.

KTH as usual received the highest number of patients. 

According to DRU, 2150 patients were brought to KTH and 446 of them tested positive.

The Lady Reading Hospital received 964 patients and 93 of them were diagnosed with dengue.

The Hayatabad Medical Complex received 130 patients of whom 27 tested positive.

The Mardan Medical Complex received 353 patients in the past two days of whom 30 were diagnosed with dengue.

The Naseerullah Babar Hospital in the capital city reported 10 cases, Northwest General Hospital reported nine, Rahman Medical Institute four while six patients tested positive at Kuwait Teaching Hospital.

Abbottabad and Mansehra reported 11 each cases each and three patients tested positive in Buner ?district.

 Meanwhile, representatives from various political parties on Tuesday expressed concern over the dengue situation and announced to convene a jirga of elders for Friday to discuss the issue.

The decision was taken at a consultative meeting of representatives of different political parties, which was arranged at the Speen Jumaat in the University Town. Those who turned at the meeting included Arbab Khizer Hayat of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, former Member Provincial Assembly from the area, Atifur Rehman Khalil, Dad Khan of Awami National Party, Pir Fida Advocate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and others.

The participants of the meeting voiced alarm at the situation created after the dengue epidemic broke out and the deaths caused by the mosquito-borne disease.

They believed that the government steps to overcome the problem were next to nil and the state-run hospitals lacked the required facilities.

Those at the meeting noted that fumigation was not being done in all the affected areas and the quality of the spray was not satisfactory.

The political representatives disputed the official casualty figures due to dengue and said the actual count stood at 30 in Tehkal, Gharibabad, Jehangirabad, Sufaid Dheri and Malakand Dher.