Govt forms technical committee to combat Monkeypox threat in Punjab

LAHORE: In response to the looming threat of monkeypox in Punjab, the provincial government has established a technical committee dedicated to the prevention and diagnosis of the virus in the province, ARY News reported on Sunday.

The committee is headed by former Caretaker Health Minister Dr. Javed Akram and includes 20 senior health department officials.

Members from Border Health Services, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization are also part of the committee, along with representatives from DG Health Punjab and Rescue 1122.

The formation of this committee underscores the government’s proactive approach to managing and mitigating the risk of monkeypox in the region.

A day earlier, three confirmed cases of monkeypox disease have been reported yet in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and all the patients have returned from Gulf countries.

In a press statement issued here on Friday, said Director Public Health Dr. Irshad Ahmad Roghani said the Health Department is establishing isolation wards for Mpox patients while COVID teams have been made functional at their stations of duty.

“Contact tracing of suspected patients is also in progress to detect further spread of the disease,” he added.

World Health Organization (WHO) has already declared a public health emergency of international concern, to prevent the spread of a new variant of Mpox viral virus.