Dengue outbreak continues in Punjab with 190 new cases - Dr Javed Akram's Reaction
#khabar #dengue #punjabgovernment #punjab
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NewsTranscript
00:00In the country, in terms of population, in the biggest province, at this time, there is the rule of dengue, which at some time was over, or reached to the minimum level.
00:09Many steps were taken, now it is visible again after the rains.
00:13On one side, there was a face of urban flooding, there was a face of the gutter boiling, there was a face of the water standing.
00:19And now it has become clear that after the water has gone, the rule of mosquitoes is present at this time.
00:23In the last 24 hours, 23 cases of dengue have been reported in Rawalpindi and 6 cases in Lahore.
00:29Not only this, but also in Okara, Nankana Sahib and Narowal, cases of dengue have been reported in different places.
00:36Not just that, according to Mahagma Sehat Punjab, in the province of Dengue, 139 cases have been reported in a week.
00:42Whereas in the last year, 518 dengue cases have been reported.
00:46According to Mahagma Sehat Sindh, in the last day, 11 cases of dengue have been reported in Karachi alone.
00:524-4 cases of dengue have been reported from the eastern and central districts of Karachi.
00:57In the month of September, 70 cases of dengue have been reported in Karachi.
01:01And in the fourth year, one person has also passed away from dengue in Sindh.
01:0611 cases of dengue have been reported in the area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
01:11In Islamabad, 155 cases of dengue have been reported.
01:17Dr. Javed Akram is with us. He is the former Minister of Health of Punjab.
01:23Thank you very much for joining us.
01:25Doctor, we used to see dengue very actively in the past.
01:29People used to try to eliminate it.
01:32People used to take proper steps.
01:34On one hand, there is climate change.
01:36There is more water.
01:37There are more rains.
01:39On the other hand, after the rains, this problem arises.
01:43What should be done by the governments?
01:46Because health is now the primary subject after the 18th amendment.
01:49And what is not being done?
01:54Look, dengue is in 155 countries.
01:59And no country, including America, including Singapore and so on, has succeeded in eradicating it.
02:08So eradicating it can be a dream, a miracle, which we can expect from Allah.
02:14As you said in your intro, its prevalence can be reduced.
02:22And we say that, of course, you mentioned climate change and extreme weather conditions.
02:30And Allah gave us a very good environment in which we spoiled it by doing deforestation and rapid urbanization.
02:40Our infrastructure develops later.
02:43First, houses are built.
02:44First, offices are built.
02:46We think about sea bridge later.
02:48In such conditions, it is obvious that we are very vulnerable, especially in Pakistan.
02:55Our seawater system is that we put seawater in the sea or in the river or in the river.
03:02So, especially when these extreme weather conditions are coming,
03:07there is a lot of flooding, urbanization is happening and there are a lot of rains.
03:11And there is no arrangement to eradicate them.
03:14So stagnant water is like heavens for Aedes aegypti, which is a female variety that carries the virus.
03:23So, Alhamdulillah, we are all Muslims and as Muslims, we know that cleanliness is half-trust.
03:30That half-trust is neither individually nor collectively in our lives.
03:36If you look at a house, garbage is thrown out, there are a lot of problems of solid waste management,
03:43there are a lot of problems of sewage.
03:46This is a very large picture.
03:49We cannot solve this matter without solving the larger picture.
03:53In other words, it needs a thorough and multi-pronged strategy.
03:58Absolutely.
04:00Look, let me tell you that you do not only have to do dengue in the long term.
04:05You will have to do a lot to eradicate malaria and all vector-borne diseases from typhoid.
04:15Governments that have become weak will have to replace their sewage lines.
04:21It needs investment.
04:23Unfortunately, we do a lot of investment on defense.
04:27But my prediction is that if 2 crore people have to die in the next 2-3 years,
04:36they will die from a microbe, a germ, a mosquito.
04:40They will not die from a nuclear arsenal.
04:43Obviously, if leaders have to save the lives of their people,
04:47they will work on strengthening the health system.
04:50It does not have to be exclusive.
04:52I am sorry, I am cutting you short.
04:54You are not investing money on defense and not on health because we are investing on defense.
04:58We are investing money on a lot of other things.
05:00We are ready to run glass trains here.
05:02We cannot invest on health.
05:04It is very unfair to invest all this money on defense.
05:06Why are we investing on defense?
05:09I am just telling you that if we have to save the lives of so many people,
05:14what do we have to do?
05:16Obviously, it is very important to invest on defense other than saving lives.
05:21There is no doubt about it.
05:23But I am just comparing that if we have to save 20 million people,
05:26what way do we invest?
05:28That is what I am saying.
05:29You are the new caretaker minister.
05:32Do you see health as a priority in the country?
05:39Look, we are spending a lot less.
05:43Bangladesh is spending a lot more.
05:47Even Sri Lanka, which is in a crisis,
05:49is spending more than 2.5% of its GDP.
05:53We are spending 0.9%.
05:55And we are spending aggressively.
05:57And unfortunately, how does aggression get determined?
06:00It is determined by your media, mic and camera.
06:03It is determined by breaking news.
06:05You can take as much resources as you want.
06:09The health system will never improve like this.
06:12It has to be a progressive spending and not an aggressive spending.
06:15It has to be not an issue-based spending.
06:18It needs proper long-term policies.
06:22And unfortunately, our government does not think beyond its election.
06:27And that is very correct.
06:28The health system has never improved in the last three years.
06:31APC is needed.
06:33APC was implemented for terrorism.
06:35APC should be implemented again for health policy.
06:39And all the parties and stakeholders should come together
06:42and form a single policy.
06:44And all the governments should contribute to it.
06:46That is how it is going to be.
06:48That makes sense.
06:49Last question, Mr. Bhatt.
06:50You are right about our health infrastructure.
06:52We spend very reactively.
06:54Sir, let's not argue.
06:56If we do proactive spending,
06:58before dengue or any other disease spreads,
07:02we should try to prevent it pre-emptively
07:04instead of catering it when it spreads.
07:09So, where will we spend more?
07:11Proactive or reactive?
07:13Definitely, it should be pre-emptive and proactive.
07:18And definitely, we have to spend on preventive health.
07:21We have big ivory towers of cardiology centres.
07:26We don't have a single unit of preventive cardiology in Pakistan.
07:30In Pakistan, every second person has blood pressure,
07:34I have my own study,
07:35and every third person has diabetes.
07:37We should not stop them.
07:38That is why kidney failure and other diseases.
07:41And in dengue, it is a social disease.
07:46Right.
07:48First of all, we should suppress it,
07:52by source reduction,
07:53by denying breeding to these mosquitoes.
07:57Absolutely, Dr. Javed.
07:58So that they don't get any pollution where they can breed.
08:00Unfortunately, time is up.
08:03But we will continue to discuss such issues.
08:05Thank you very much for joining us.