PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department is yet to come out of hibernation and devise a plan to counter the growing number of dengue patients in different parts of the province, particularly in the provincial capital. The three Medical and Teaching Institutions (MTIs) in Peshawar including the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), and hospitals in rest of the province are receiving patients daily with symptoms similar to dengue virus.It was in September when reports about dengue patients started coming out from different districts of the province. In Peshawar, only one death has been reported due to dengue virus so far. The patient was from Tehkal village in Peshawar and was admitted to the KTH initially. After a few days of treatment, she was discharged from the hospital and sent home where she expired. According to doctors, there is no specialised treatment of dengue virus. Most of the patients with dengue fever symptoms prefer KTH instead of LRH and HMC.In the KTH, the hospital administration initially reserved three private rooms as isolation ward for dengue patients. When the number of patients increased, 10 private rooms were converted into an isolation ward. Subsequently, the KTH administration in consultation with senior physicians established 16 beds, eight each in Medical A and Medical B units of the hospital for accommodating dengue patients. Eight beds had been reserved for female patients. According to spokespersons of the hospitals in Peshawar, 25 patients were admitted in KTH, six in LRH and seven in HMC on Tuesday. Since September, KTH received 70 patients with dengue symptoms. Except one female patient all the patients recovered. The majority of the patients hail from different areas of Peshawar including Gulbahar, Landi Arbab and Regi.The patients included the brother and sister-in-law of PTI MPA from Peshawar, Fazle Elahi Khan. One patient was brought from Jamrud in Khyber Agency and another was shifted to Peshawar from Batkhela in Malakand Agency. Senior government officials told The News that the authorities concerned had informed the provincial Health Department and Health Directorate a few months ago about the expected dengue outbreak in the province in general and the provincial capital in particular. They had suggested various prior techniques to counter the virus. “Despite repeated forewarnings about an outbreak of the dengue virus, neither the Health Department nor the Health Directorate took any initiative. They neither arranged fumigation nor distributed mosquito nets to the community. They didn’t even arrange events to create awareness regarding dengue virus and its prevention,” a senior official at the Health Secretariat told The News. Pleading anonymity, he said even now when dengue virus has created an alarming situation, the Health Department is yet to come out of slumber and take its job seriously. “The most important thing in dengue virus is creating awareness among the people. The government has been spending millions of rupees on treatment but the Health Department is unable to create awareness and prevent diseases,” he said. He said Director General Health Services and District Health Officer should be held responsible for their negligence and for their failure to conduct proper spray and distribute mosquito nets to the community.Efforts were made to seek comments from the Director General Health Services Dr Pervez Kamal, but he didn’t answer phone calls and text messages sent to his cell phone by The News.
