LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that the distribution process of financial assistance of Rs 0.5 million to the heirs of each dengue victim has been started in a transparent manner and particulars of the deceased have also been collected after thorough scrutiny. Presiding over a meeting of emergency committee held to review steps taken for eradication of dengue virus in the province on Friday, he said that it had also been decided to set up a blood bank which will start functioning within next few days. Elected representatives, Chief Secretary, secretaries of various departments, members of Sri Lankan medical team and experts attended the meeting. The chief minister was told that besides a short term, a long term policy was also being formulated for elimination of dengue virus and the special committee headed by the chief secretary will submit its recommendations within next few days in this regard. He was also informed that arrangements for sending 150 doctors and nurses to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand for training had been completed. The meeting was told that teams of experts and specialists of teaching hospitals had started visiting private and charity hospitals for examining of complicated dengue patients, and they had examined 520 patients in 41 private hospitals on Thursday. Addressing the meeting, the CM said that a system should be evolved for vector control of dengue virus on permanent basis and surveillance teams should work continuously for this purpose. Terming the visits of senior doctors to small hospitals as useful, he said that these visits would help diagnose dengue patients and provision of best medical facilities to them. The CM was further told that a system had also been evolved for checking the standard of training programme so that doctors and nurses could be provided training on modern lines. The chief minister directed the secretary food that special teams should visit hotels and restaurants regularly for reviewing the steps taken regarding eradication of dengue virus.