ISLAMABAD: Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) Imtiaz
Inayat Elahi Saturday said that dengue situation in Islamabad was
under control as they have been fumigating and spraying insecticides
since the breeding of mosquito larva started in March.
The
Chairman CDA in a news briefing said that CDA eliminated mosquito
breeds by conducting a comprehensive fumigation drive since March;
however the efforts were intensifies after the virus created panic,
particularly in Punjab province, says a press statement.
He
said the CDA was the first to launch such an extensive campaign against
the dengue virus by putting maximum resources at the disposal of health
services directorate including vehicles and human resource.
He
said in fumigation drive, the CDA has given special focus in slums,
greenbelts, nullahs houses and streets. Soon, the CDA would start this
exercise in the schools, he added.
The CDA chief said the CDA
has also established a hotline to receive complaints from residents
regarding stagnant water in any locality and that the CDA was trying to
address individual’s complaints as well.
“The citizens must
also extend their cooperation to the CDA in this effort. They should at
least spray lime powder around stagnant water as insecticide to
diminish threat,” said the CDA chairman.
He apprised the
newsmen that 30 teams were working round the clock and the civic agency
was also considering to establish sub-stations to ensure immediately
redress the complaints.
Elahi said the CDA’s environment staff
had been directed to apply mosquito repellents while being at work and
that the garbage collection exercise has also been expedited to address
public grievances, though it is not breeding ground of the mosquito.
The CDA chief was however hopeful that the dengue threat would diminish
once the weather turned cold.
In a presentation, CDA’s Director
Health Services Dr Hassan Arooj said influx of patients from various
parts of the region makes the federal capital as high risk city; but
the disease can only be fatal if it is mishandled.
He said this
particular species of the mosquito, that has white dots on the body
with comparatively taller legs and that one can easily recognize the
specie through the naked eye.
Dr Hassan Arooj however, said
that almost 90 percent dengue patients recover by normal medication and
only five percent touch the dangerous stage that required transfusion
of platelets. He said within last one month, the CDA received 1030
complaints for fumigating and all of those have been addressed.
To
a question, he said the CDA uses imported chemical for spray as well as
fumigation and also gets its quality tested from a laboratory in Lahore
before using it.
The director said water base spray of
insecticide costs Rs. 300 per three marla, oil base spray takes Rs.
1500 for the same area and the cold fogging costs Rs. 700. Executive
Director CDA Hospital Dr. Siddique Akbar Sati told media that in total,
the hospital received nine patients out of those five are yet under
treatment and rest four have been discharge after recovery.
He said all of those patients were local but some of them narrated that they had visited Lahore prior to their illness. Online
