10 districts of Punjab badly affected by Chickenpox

Lahore  : Punjab Minister for Primary & Secondary Health Khawaja Imran Nazir has directed all the Deputy Commissioners of Chickenpox affected districts to hold meetings on daily basis to review the disease situation, surveillance and treatment facilities for the patients. This practice should be continued till the complete control on the virus.

He stated this while presiding over a meeting to review the situation of chickenpox disease in Faisalabad, Jhang, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Okara, Nankana Sahib, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Bhakkar and Lahore, here today.

The meeting discussed the intensity of chickenpox in the said districts, referral system and treatment facilities for the patients in the hospitals.

Special Secretary Specialized Healthcare Dr. Sajid Mehmood Chohan, Special Secretary Primary & Secondary Health Dr. Faisal Zahoor, Dean Children Hospital Lahore Prof. Masood Sadiq, Medical Director Prof. Ahsan Waheed Rathore, ex-VC KEMU Prof. Faisal Masood, Representatives of WHO and UNICEF Dr. Mazhar Qureshi and Dr. Rana Mushtaq, Health Consultant Dr. Naeem-ud-Din Mian, Addl. Secretary Primary Health Dr. Asim Altaf, Additional Specialized Healthcare Dr. Salman Shahid, Director EPI Dr. Munir, Director CDC Dr. Bashir, CEO Health Lahore Dr. Saeed Ghuman and Deputy Commissioners and CEOs of the affected districts were also participated in the video-linked meeting.

It was informed that a mass awareness campaign has been launched in the affected districts and special health education sessions have been held in the schools. Moreover, advertisements have also been published/ flashed in print and electronic media for creating awareness among the people regarding chickenpox. Principal Punjab Medical College/ Allied Hospital Faisalabad was of the view that the patients are coming to the hospitals very late when the disease developed complications like pneumonia, Acute Respiratory Disorder (ARD), Meningitis etc, on this stage, treatment and saving the life of the patient become a big challenge for the doctors.

The medical experts said that though the chickenpox is known as a common disease among the children and the patients recovered within few days, however, if the virus affects the adults, it becomes dangerous due to many other health complications already persisting in them and causes mortality due to co-morbidity.

Kh. Imran Nazir directed the CEOs Health to focus on the awareness campaign in the affected areas and strengthen and make vibrant disease surveillance and referral system for the patients.

Prof. Faisal Masood said that patients with the symptoms of high grade fever, rashes on the body, vomiting and stiffness in the neck should immediately be referred to a government hospital for proper treatment.

The meeting decided that a SMS pertaining WHO guidelines regarding chickenpox should be disseminated among the general practitioners on the pattern of dengue so that the family physicians and general practitioners could be able to provide better medical cover to the patients and if necessary, they could refer the patients to the hospital.

The Health Minister also constituted a technical committee comprising on professors and specialists of tertiary care hospitals for probing the matter and submitting report within 48 hours.

Kh. Imran Nazir directed that treatment protocol for chickenpox patients should strictly followed in the hospitals.