Pakistan, a member of the global nuclear club, is struggling to defeat dengue fever as disease is spreading like wildfire across the country.
In Punjab province, at least 30 people have died due to the epidemic while another 5,510 have contracted dengue fever. In flood-hit Sindh province, three people have died due to dengue fever. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, of the 48 affected people, five have succumbed to the fever.
In a country where budget allocation for the military is ten times that of health sector allocation, citizens are dying of a 'curable' disease like dengue fever. The 2011-2012 budget shows that a meagre amount of Rs 40 billion has been allocated both for health and education sectors by the federal government. If one calculates the budgetary allocations for the health sector, the government wants to spend only 25 paisa for each citizen.
Dengue fever is an infectious disease that is transmitted to humans from mosquitoes carrying the virus. The symptoms of the disease include fever, severe headache, muscular and joint pains. Poor hygiene is the most common cause for the spread of the disease amd in the wake of heavy rainfall, Pakistan has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Punjab, the most-populous province of the country, has been badly affected by the disease. The death of Ataullah Siddiqui, head of the provincial department of minerals and natural resources, due to dengue fever has shocked the entire province.
So far, the Punjab government has not been able to control the situation. Hospitals in the province are flooded as patients with fever fear that they might be suffering from dengue. Emergency has been declared at government hospitals which have limited resources.
The mega platelets used in the blood transfusion of dengue fever patients is no longer available at any of the public hospitals in Lahore. Several patients have turned to private hospitals where they are being over-charged for treatment.
Experts have been called in from Sri Lanka to deal with the situation, but they are of the view that there is no short-cut to deal with the epidemic and a long-term strategy is required to control the virus.
The government, instead of making concrete efforts to ward off the mosquito-borne disease, has closed down schools and universities for ten days.
Experts believe that the spread of the disease to other parts of the province could be controlled when the government enforces travel restrictions and quarantines the affected people.
With the government unable to tackle the situation, the judiciary has swung into action. On Friday, the Lahore high court chief justice grilled the Punjab health ministry about the measures taken by the department to control dengue and to provide relief to the affected people.
The CJ remarked that had the government officials performed their duties properly, so many people would not have complained about ineffective fumigation in their areas and insufficient facilities at public hospitals.
Pakistan's public health system, like other institutions of the country, needs a major overhaul in order to deal with such a dangerous disease.
