‘Cleanliness only way to prevent dengue’

LAHORE : Post Graduate Medical Institute Principal Prof Dr Sardar Al-freed Zafar said that a dengue vaccine is not yet available. The only way to prevent this viral infection is to ensure cleanliness of surroundings.

These views were expressed by Principal PGMI and head of Lahore General Hospital while addressing at the occasion of Dengue awareness walk organised by Medical Unit-3 at LGH. He said that the only families who have first responsibility for the prevention of dengue worldwide are those who keep their homes clean. He further said that contained water is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes of dengue and it is very important to pay special attention to clean it.

Prof Tahir Siddique said that Government organizations can make all efforts for raising public awareness but as long as the community does not play its active role, our society will continue to suffer from this problem. They also distributed pamphlets among the patients, their families and citizens and appealed to them to spread the message of cleanliness as much as possible. He said that according to the policy of the Punjab government, all the facilities and medicines related to dengue fever are available free of cost in General Hospital and the Health Department will continue to play its positive role in this regard.

The head of the Medical Unit-3 LGH Prof Tahir Siddique said that the Government, NGOs and the media have been conducting public awareness campaigns against dengue for the last one decade while raising awareness and advising on water conservation to prevent the spread of dengue, the role of the community in the prevention of dengue seems to be less than the required target. Talking to media, Principal PGMI said that the dengue fever and disease is not a new challenge for us, every citizen knows dengue as a local disease but as per medical experts due to non-implementation of the precautionary measures issued by the Government, this disease is spread on a large scale every year, he said and added that in order to prevent the spread of the dengue disease, the community must fulfill its responsibilities and eliminate the "hotspots" that breed mosquitoes in and around their houses. Dengue fever has become an important social problem as well as a health one. Principal PGMI said that the Government sent thousands of dengue surveillance teams every year in the fields for door-to-door monitoring to create awareness about the disease and prevent dengue mosquito breeding.