LAHORE - On the direction of Chief Minister Punjab, Chief Secretary Major (r) Azam Suleman Khan on Friday presided over an important meeting to review strategy for adopting preventive measures against corona virus and steps to eradicate dengue in the province.
The meeting was attended by Provincial Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Hamayun, Minister Auqaf Syed Saeed Ul Hassan, Additional Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary (Home), administrative secretaries of all departments whereas all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners joined the meeting through video conferencing.
Speaking at the meeting held at Civil Secretariat, the Chief Secretary said that health as well as all relevant departments and field officers would have to work hard as per SOPs to control dengue. He directed all the departments to ensure implementation of the SOPs issued in connection with dengue control as no negligence would be tolerated in this regard. He asked the officer to enhance awareness among people about this deadly virus by launching an effective province-wide campaign.
Secretary Primary Health Capt (r) Muhammad Usman briefed the meeting that control rooms would be set up for monitoring of hotspots, surveillance and timely issuance of alerts. He mentioned that the health department has started training on dengue at divisional headquarters and so far sessions have been organized in Rawalpindi and Faisalabad whereas this process would be completed in other divisions – Sargodha, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Lahore – by 10th March. Commissioners and deputy commissioners are also among participants of the training, he added.
The Chief Secretary directed that cleanliness, larvaciding and other anti-dengue activities be expedited in the province, besides ensuring correct reporting of data as situation can take turn for the worse in case of concealment of facts.
The meeting also reviewed the strategy to adopt preventive measures against corona virus and allay concerns and fears of people in this regard. The Chief Secretary ordered that proper screening of Chinese and other people be conducted as per the SOPs issued by the federal government and relevant provincial departments should keep close liaison with federal authorities.
Secretary Specialized Healthcare Nabeel Awan told the meeting that at present there is no corona virus patient in the country, adding that at divisional level high dependency units have been established in one hospital where trained doctors and paramedics would provide healthcare to suspected corona virus patients.
