Kiani visits Polyclinic, examines facilities being provided dengue ward patients

ISLAMABAD, Oct 26 (APP):Minister for National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Aamer Mehmood Kiani Friday visited the dengue ward of Federal Government Polyclinic (FGPC) hospital and examined the facilities being given to the dengue patients.
Speaking on occasion, he said the government will not tolerate any negligence in providing best medical treatment to dengue patients.
He said the present government has already taken measures to control dengue. He said this year most dengue cases are reported from rural areas, which are being observed seriously.
He said the disease has been contained and outbreak curtailed within the limits of Tarnol union council. He said tirelessly efforts have been made to control the outbreak by putting in huge manpower and diverting all available resources as very few cases have been reported so far from other union councils.
The union council of Tarnol was hard hit by dengue fever this year because of the fact that it harbors laborers, contractors and large storage places of equipment besides trash and heavy earth breaking machinery.
The minister said there are huge dumps of solid waste in this area with no system of their disposal while there is no regular water supply system.
The community living here depends on intermittent supply of water that is mostly through water tankers that asked them to store water in open water containers that leads to dengue mosquitoes breeding.
He said teams working in Tarnol are looking into all these aspects to control the disease through active indoor and outdoor surveillance.
The minister said that the Health Department of Islamabad has been working on a strategy composed of two parts and has held meetings to depute its teams comprising of Sanitary Inspectors and Lady Health Supervisor and workers to launch a continuous campaign.
In its first part of the strategy it has directed the staff for carrying out the measures including social mobilization by house to house visits of Lady Health Visitors for motivating community to create awareness amongst the rural population to adopt preventive measures to save themselves from the bite of dengue mosquitoes.
They will ask them to remain vigilant to stop dengue mosquitoes to flourish or develop from larvae to adult mosquito inside the homes of their catchment area community and around the residences.
He said community will be motivated to remove solid waste from these same places. They would also hold awareness walks, display banners, distribute pamphlets and also motivate school children for the purpose.
Outdoor surveillance is being carried out and water bodies will be treated with chemicals by adding tempos granules to destroy dengue vector completing its life cycle thereby stopping its growth from larvae to pupae stages in stagnant water that are the active larvae breeding sites.
He said for indoor surveillance Lady Health Workers are making house to house visits in the community to look for any probable breeding sites inside homes like water coolers having water, old broken furniture, toys, lids, cans pitchers and saucers, refrigerator trays, flower pots, utensils and all those items that might have attracted the rain or water from other sources during the current monsoon season.