LAHORE
Another polio case has been reported from relatively low-risk Punjab, alarming for the government.
18-month-old Kubra, daughter of Ghulam Yasin from Tehsil Darya Khan District Bhakkar, has been tested positive by National Institute of Health.
Earlier, a three-year-old baby girl named Noorul Huda, daughter of Waqar Haider from Kallar Kahar District Chakwal was tested positive. Meanwhile, the NIH has confirmed presence of Polio virus in 18 sewerage water samples taken from parts of the province including Lahore.
Separately, two more were tested positive , taking the number of confirmed cases in the province to 63.
Mubashar Naqvi, 33, a resident of Taxila and Hayat Bibi, 30, were tested positive for Dengue at Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi. Meanwhile, Advisor to Punjab Chief Minister on Health Kh Salman Rafiq has stressed the need of removing water from room coolers as they were major source of larvae growth.
Chairing a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Dengue at Civil Secretariat, he said that Ferozwala witnessed increase in the number of patients due to stagnant floodwater. Director General Health Dr Zahid Pervez, DCO Lahore Capt (retd) Muhammad Usman, senior officers of the concerned departments, Town officers and Dengue experts attended the meeting.
Kh Salman Rafiq urged tehsil administration to accelerate anti-dengue activities and keep a vigilant eye on the situation. He said that dengue had become a social problem and as such community mobilisation was essential to overcome the menace. He directed the officers of School Education and Higher Education to chalk out a program for Secondary and Intermediate students. He said that these students would visit houses in the neighbourhood of their educational institutions accompanied by teachers for creating public awareness and community mobilisation.
DCO Lahore informed that more than 21000 houses were checked on a single day - September 16 - and larva was detected in 119 houses. Similarly, outdoor dengue surveillance was carried out at more than 8000 places and larvae were found at 73 places. Moreover, during the period from 1st to 16th September, 2014, 190 FIRs were lodged and 28 arrests were made in Lahore over violation of dengue regulations.
The Additional Director General Health (Vector Born Diseases) has informed that 61 confirmed dengue patients have been reported till 16th September while 139 patients had been reported during the corresponding period in 2013.
He informed that at present nine dengue patients were under treatment in Mayo Hospital while four in Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi.
Senior officers of all the concerned departments and in-charges of towns, as well as Cantonment Boards administration, EDO Health Lahore and other agencies apprised the meeting of the measures taken by their departments for dengue control.
Young docs invited
for dialogue
Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex Chairman Dr Farrukh Iqbal has vowed to bring improvement in the medical institution by ending grouping among doctors.
In a statement, he invited the young doctors for dialogue, saying the most of their demands were already met.
“The new building of the medical college will also be build soon,” he added. He said that the hospital was providing free medical facilities and medicines to poor patients. The second floor comprising of 270 beds was ready to be opened while the hospital already has had 713 beds, said Dr Farrukh.
Shaikh Zaid Medical Complex was providing medical education to 500 students, he said, hinting to soon start BDS programme as well. He held that his appointment was made of merit and those who opposing my appointment were only creating factions among the doctors which will bring nothing but a bad reputation to medical profession. He invited the opponents for dialogue and for making united efforts to bring further improvement in the medical institution.