Number of dengue patients grows in KP amid govt’s denial

PESHAWAR: After taking more than 70 lives and leaving thousands of people hospitalised in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2017, dengue virus has again become a headache for the provincial government even though it is in a state of denial about outbreak of the disease instead of taking the issue seriously.

More than 1,000 patients suffering from dengue have been reported so far. A statement attributed to Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was recently released to the media after Director General Health Services Dr Arshad Ahmad briefed him about the dengue situation in KP. The chief minister had warned about taking action against those spreading rumours about dengue.

It is possible Dr Arshad Ahmad showed him a different picture about the dengue situation in the province, particularly the provincial capital and its outskirts.

The chief minister was quoted in the statement that dengue tests can only be done in Islamabad, which health experts in KP challenged, saying the dengue investigations can be done anywhere in the province.

It would have been better had the chief minister questioned Dr Arshad Ahmad and his team about the measures they had taken for prevention of the dengue virus before it could cause an epidemic.

Instead of relying on presentations, the chief minister should have ordered an inquiry and sent a team of health experts to visit the rural areas of Peshawar to collect data of the affected people and find out as to why the government responded late.

According to health experts at the Hayatabad Medical Complex and Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar, the health department should have initiated its work in March to prevent dengue outbreak.

“When we received dengue patients from rural areas of Peshawar two months ago, we wrote to the health directorate to take note before it became an epidemic. We didn’t receive any response from the health directorate and the results are before you,” an official of KTH told The News.

Some of the patients and their attendants showed strong reaction to the statement of the chief minister in which he denied outbreak of the disease.

“Instead of reducing our pain, the statement of the chief minister broke our hearts,” said Masihul Islam, an attendant of a dengue patient in KTH.

He claimed dengue virus had affected hundreds of people in his native Mushtarzai union council in Peshawar. Mohammad Javed, nazim union council Sheikhan, claimed that hundreds of people were still suffering from dengue fever in Sheikhan, Mushtarzai, Badabher and its adjoining villages. He claimed that three people, identified as Muslim Khan son of Rokhan, Abdul Majid son of Amjad Khan and a woman had lost their lives from dengue fever.

“In my own family, 16 people are suffering from dengue fever. In each house of our town having population of 500, eight, nine and ten people in households are suffering from this disease and spending their own money on treatment,” said Mohammad Javed.

He said a few people of the health department had visited their village last week but they had neither medicines nor investigation services for the people.

“They advised us to go to hospitals. But in hospitals, there are no separate counters or free services for the dengue patients,” he complained.

Also, KP Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah, who too until now was in a state of denial about the dengue outbreak, visited Landikotal in Khyber district on Saturday and met cricketer Shaheen Afridi to inquire about his health as he is suffering from the mosquito-borne disease.

Dengue virus was first reported in Tehkal village in Peshawar in July 2017. It then spread to Pishtakhara village and later became an epidemic.