Global experts involved to develop dengue strategy: minister

LAHORE:Punjab is all set to chalk out a comprehensive Dengue Strategy with the support of local and international experts, Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said here Friday on the last day of the International Dengue Conference 2020 at a hotel.

Dr Yasmin Rashid said that Punjab had brought together leading global experts to develop strategy as dengue was a global pandemic that had hit all countries in our region. “We have to devise tangible action plan and see how the disease has evolved over the last decade. We are working with the federal government and are developing a joint strategy with all stakeholders based on lessons learnt. Whereas work on treatment and clinical management is underway, we have to find innovative approaches towards prevention,” the minister said.

Dr Yasmin Rashid said: “It is great to see experts from virology, epidemiology, public health and researchers from all regions discussing and sharing experiences. We need thorough review of existing SOPs related to case detection, diagnosis, clinical managements, treatment, surveillance and social mobilisation. The conference will help us devise strategies that will be helpful for Pakistan as well as other countries of the region.”

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, appreciated Punjab for leading Pakistan dengue response. He said this is a sign of maturity in a society that when a crisis is over, people create opportunities to reflect and devise future course of action. Dengue, he said, is an international issue and all countries can learn a lot from each other.

Chief Secretary Major (r) Azam Suleman said dengue control required an inter-sectoral response and the existing SOPs must be continuously improved. Former DG Health Dr Munir Ahmed, who had won global acclaim for control of dengue as EDO Lahore a decade back, said training of staff on latest modules and accountability of staff was the key to better results.

Moot: A two-day international conference on “Dengue Prevention and Control” concluded here Friday. This diverse environment supplemented towards having a more productive, healthy, informative and constructive discussion regarding combat dengue in future.

The last day of the conference was well attended by ministers, public office holders, renowned scientists, clinicians and researchers from various cities of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other countries. The conference was organized by Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department at a local hotel. Addressing the conference, P&S Healthcare Captain (R) Muhammad Usman said the coordination amongst provincial, federal and global is necessary to counter the dengue epidemic in future. We have requested WHO to establish a national level training centre in Punjab for this purpose. He said we need to recognise that dengue activity had to happen around the year and He said that around 600,000 suspend cases with 22,000 lab-confirmed cases and more than 350 lives lost to this deadly virus was a huge crisis. In this adverse time, medical experts of the country took the challenge head-on.

Chief Secretary Major (r) Azam Suleman thanked the health minister and health department for arranging a healthy discussion on important subject dengue. He said that the dengue was a major health concern in this region and we were fighting with these diseases for the last many years.

cement industry: The Punjab government is encouraging investment in the province and timely issuance of the no-objection certificates (NOCs) and other facilities would especially be extended to investors of cement industry.

Punjab Chief Secretary (CS) Major (r) Azam Suleman Khan stated this while chairing a meeting to review matters related to issuance of NOCs for new cement plants and expansion of the existing industry here on Friday. The participants deliberated on finalising procedure for issuance of NOCs to the applicants for new cement plants. The CS directed that all relevant departments, including the departments of irrigation, environment, industries and local government, adopt a unified strategy to remove unnecessary hurdles in setting up new cement plants.