Dengue Fever: Pakistan’s hospitals are running out of beds

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistan’s hospitals are running out of beds as dengue fever cases rise across the country. As a result of a lack of beds, hospitals in Punjab, particularly in Lahore, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are refusing to accept new dengue virus patients, even though the virus is spreading across the country.

In Punjab’s hospitals, beds designated for coronavirus patients are being used to treat dengue virus patients, according to a report by The News.

In Islamabad, a major anti-dengue virus campaign has been initiated in response to the city’s surprisingly high rate of cases.

To tackle the dangerous condition, Islamabad’s chief commissioner has encouraged all stakeholders to launch a citywide anti-dengue campaign. The drive’s second day was Saturday.

According to a statement by Additional Deputy Commissioner (East) Babar Sahib Din, every roadway in both rural and urban regions will be fumigated in the next four to five days.

“We have fumigated important market places in F-6, F-7, F-8, G-6, G-7, G-8, as well as residential areas in G-10, G-14, I-8, I-10, Rawal Town, and F-11, F-8, F-5,” he stated.

Shah Allah Ditta, Turnol, Jhangi Sayedan Saidpur, and Mehrabadi were among the rural regions attacked.

According to Sahib Din, 20 teams consisting of workers from the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI), and other departments were formed to conduct the exercise.

One specific crew is focusing on bus stations, while another is focusing on mosques, where daily fumigation is guaranteed.

The ADC added, “All housing societies have also been advised to enhance their fumigation activities.”

He stated that “a team is also entrusted with a swift reaction for places where dengue cases surface.”
According to the ADC, the ICTA administration has also applied Section 144, and anyone caught allowing water to accumulate outside their homes would face legal action.

Assistant commissioners had issued 30,000 fines, he claimed, while seven persons had been arrested, two FIRs had been filed, and seven properties had been shut.

According to Din, a large number of junkyards, construction sites, service stations, and tire shops were also investigated.

According to the DHO, a growing number of instances have been reported in Islamabad’s suburbs.

The Punjab government has declared a medical emergency.

Meanwhile, due to an increase in dengue cases, the Punjab government declared a medical emergency at public health institutions in Lahore.

The decision was reached at a meeting convened by Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmeen Rashid, which examined the difficulty of stopping rapid mosquito breeding in the province and voiced concern about the potential for the dengue situation to worsen in the coming weeks.

The provincial health agency has ordered all doctors on leave to return to their respective medical facilities to deal with the increasing number of dengue cases.

In an interview with the media in Quetta, Punjab Health Secretary Imran Sikandar Baloch expressed his thoughts.

He said, “The weather conditions conducive to the development of the disease were likely to continue until the end of the year”

Baloch denied that official monitoring teams were not doing their jobs, claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic had already put enormous strain on the province’s health system.

He stated that the same medical staff is also dealing with the dengue outbreak.

According to statistics, there have been 3,475 dengue cases in Punjab since January 2021, with 2,708 of those occurring in Lahore.

Field observation indicated the breeding of larvae in 2,580 locations across the province, with 1,530 of them identified in Lahore, according to officials.

Over 1,700 instances of dengue fever have been confirmed in three districts of Balochistan, according to Malaria Control Program Coordinator Dr. Khalid Qambrani.

Baloch said, ”the deputy commissioners and DHOs of the affected areas were working jointly to eradicate dengue fever”.

So far this year, 1,750 dengue cases have been documented in three Balochistan districts: Lasbela, Gwadar, and Ketch, according to Qambrani.

Baloch stated that the situation in these three districts was under his control. He also said that the Malaria Control Program works closely with the deputy commissioners and DHO’s.

In response to a question, Dr. Khalid Qambrani stated that no deaths had been reported, that the situation in places where dengue was present was entirely under control, and that the health department had taken the necessary precautions to cope with any emergency.

On Saturday, 93 persons in Peshawar were diagnosed with dengue fever, bringing the total number of cases to 666 in the provincial capital. Meanwhile, fresh cases have been detected in Mardan, Swabi, and Haripur.

According to the Sindh Health Department, Dengue fever has been detected in 25 instances in Karachi, 16 in Hyderabad, and three in Mirpurkhas. Sindh has recorded 377 cases of the virus in the last month alone.

Karachi was responsible for 188 of these. District Central had 48 cases, district East 46, district Korangi 42, district South 18, district West 21, and district Malir 13 cases, according to the district breakdown. There were 603 dengue cases reported in September.

Dengue fever has been reported in Sindh 2,345 times in the last nine months, with six deaths.