As a dengue epidemic grips multiple areas of the country, the central government says it provided provinces with mosquito nets and medicine beforehand anticipating the situation, ARY News reported citing sources.
The federal government provided 32,50,000 medicated mosquito nets, sources said.
Sources say that the federal government provided 13,50,000 medicated mosquito nets to Balochistan, 700,000 nets to Punjab, 12,00,000 nets to Sindh, and 700,000 to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Distribution of medicated nets is underway in 23 districts of Sindh, 11 districts of Balochistan, and five districts of KP. While 25 districts of Balochistan are at high risk of the Malaria outbreak, Health Ministry sources said.
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The Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMA) are distributing the nets with the district administration’s cooperation. The nets were provided to Pakistan by a global organisation.
This standing floodwater provides a large area for mosquitoes to breed, leading to the spread of diseases like malaria and dengue.
Naseem Salahuddin, an infectious diseases specialist working at The Indus Hospital, a charitable hospital in Sindh’s capital, Karachi, said she was “overwhelmed” by the “sheer number of patients” coming to the hospital with dengue. “My colleagues at government facilities and even private ones are referring patients out as they don’t have enough beds,” she said. “Dengue seems to have replaced Covid-19.”
