Dengue spreading fast in Peshawar villages

Peshawar, Sep 2 (IANS) Even as Pakistan is busy taking up the Kashmir issue, several areas in the country were suffering from filth and disease.

After reports of Karachi witnessing a fly infestation, now news is emanating from Peshawar that it was seeing a rapid rise in dengue cases, reports Dawn news.

So far 1,200 cases of dengue fever have been confirmed from the rural areas in Peshawar.

The high rise in the cases is mainly owing to lack of coordinated efforts by departments to ensure cleanliness, supply of water, electricity, fumigation and create public awareness regarding preventive measures.

The health department issued an advisory in March seeking coordination among the line departments but it went unheeded and now an outbreak of the disease is ongoing.

More than 100 health facilities in the district have been receiving over 100 suspected patients daily with complaints of vomiting, fever and abdominal pain.

The record shows that most patients belong to Sarband, Achini, Sheikhan, Sheikh Mohammadi and Palosi areas where thousands of people had been infected in 2017 outbreak of dengue.

Sources blame lack of coordination among the electricity department, Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) and the municipal administration to stem the tide of the virus, reported Dawn news.

They said that unscheduled power outages forced people to store water and provide breeding spaces to larvae. The health workers are short of funds to buy fuel and hire extra staff for carrying out intra-residential spray, which is the main reason of rise in the infection.

In 2017, thousands were admitted and hospitals ran out of beds besides about 70 deaths were reported from Peshawar.