Dengue takes another life in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Dengue virus has taken another life in the provincial capital and affected dozens of others, prompting the people to accuse the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department of doing nothing for prevention of the virus.

However, there were conflicting reports about the deaths reportedly caused by the dengue virus as residents in suburbs of Peshawar claimed three people had died from dengue fever in the last two days.

According to the residents, three people reportedly died in Mushtarzai village in Peshawar.

Some of the rural areas in Peshawar including Sarband, Mashokhel, Sheikhan, Mushtarzai and Sulemankhel are badly affected by the dengue virus.

The residents complained that the government had forgotten them, saying there was no house in these villages where dengue virus has not affected people.

“The government didn’t even send its teams even after two weeks of outbreak of the virus in these villages. Several people are suffering from dengue fever but the government does not bother to take care of us,” complained a villager, Iqbal Khan of Mushtarzai.

According to officials of the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), 20 patients had been brought to them since January to August 2019 in which five were admitted and 15 were discharged.

The HMC administration said no patient had died from dengue virus so far. In the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), one patient died of dengue fever.

However, the hospital administration said the woman patient, 40, was suffering from hypertension, diabetic and acute hepatitis.

The KTH received 159 patients and 22 were admitted. Patients from Sufaid Dheri, Sheikhan, Sarband and Bara were brought to KTH.