Heaps of garbage may cause infections

Rawalpindi: A number of localities in town are still not free from heaps of garbage, rubbish dumps and unnecessary water accumulations that according to health experts can prove to be potential cause of outbreaks of serious infectious diseases including dengue fever and malaria.

A number of points can be witnessed serving as garbage dumps in open in a number of streets in congested areas of the city along with many link roads that may serve as breeding sites for mosquitoes and flies.

One can see sites along rail tracks passing through town having numberless heaps of garbage and faeces that may cause spread of a number of serious infections including typhoid, cholera, dysentery and malaria and it seems as no one is responsible for clearing rubbish dumps from sites along rail tracks particularly from Saddar to Chaklala Railway Station.

Within next few days, the temperature would go up and the weather conditions would be highly suitable for breeding and growth of vectors of a number of infectious diseases, said Head of Department of Infectious Diseases at Holy Family Hospital Dr. Muhammad Mujeeb Khan while talking to ‘The News’. He believes that to avoid certain infections, breeding and growth of mosquitoes and flies should be avoided not only inside homes but also from the vicinities.

The unnecessary water accumulation and even the moisture beneath heaps of garbage in streets and roads may serve well as breeding sites of infectious diseases’ vectors and these must be cleared before the rise in temperature, he said.

Though the population in a number of vicinities is at risk of facing health threats due to poor condition of cleanliness, the most affected areas are congested ones including streets in Waris Khan area, Dhoke Elahi Bux, Dhoke Khabba, Arya Mohallah and areas adjoining the main Raja Bazaar in town.

It is important that health experts have repeatedly expressed to ‘The News’ that vectors for infectious diseases including mosquitoes and flies know no boundaries and can move from one vicinity to the other and to avoid outbreak of infectious diseases, it is a must to clear the whole town from potential breeding sites of the vectors.

It is worth mentioning here that the population in this region of the country has been facing moderate to severe outbreaks of a number of infectious disease for years including dengue fever and after outbreaks, the city district government, district health department and the district allied departments have been holding meetings on meetings to review and discuss measures to ensure clean environment in the district however, the town could not be cleared from garbage dumps and unnecessary water accumulations so far.

Health experts say that if the breeding and growth of mosquitoes, flies and other vectors for infectious diseases cannot be checked at the time and if the concerned authorities fail in cleaning all localities in Rawal Town, Potohar Town and areas in cantonment boards, the population may be at greater risk of facing severe outbreaks of infections after rise in mercury.