MANSEHRA: High incidence of suspected dengue and chikungunya cases has been reporte d in Mansehra with the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital, the largest in the district, receiving 100 such cases during the last two months.

Nine suspected dengue patients are still under treatment at the hospital. Among these cases were men, women and children.

The Kath caters to Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan and Torghar districts, received suspects Kath deputy medical superintendent Dr Bashir told Dawn that the OPD had received a large influx of suspected dengue and chikungunya cases during the last two months.

`During this season, we`ve hospitalised 83 suspected dengue patients and five of chikungunya. Nine suspected dengue cases are still under treatment,` he said.Dr Bashir said two isolation wards for dengue and chikungunya cases had been set up at the hospital, where patients were provided with free medicines and tests.

District health officer Dr Shahzad Ali said suspected cases of the two diseases created panic among people and thus, prompting hospitals to attract alarge innux ofpeople.

He said the health department was adopting all precautionary measures against the two diseases but better public awareness was very important to prevent panic among the people.

`We have been carrying fumigation spray everyday in different localities to eliminate breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The situation is under control,` he said.

Dr Shahzad said the people shouldn`t panic as the current year`s dengue incidence in the district was far less than previous years`. He said 287 dengue cases were reported in 2016 compared to 1,283 in 2015.

SCHOOL AWAITS RECONSTRUCTION: The students of the Government Primary School in Chamyal area of Oghi tehsil attend classes in the open as the building hasn`t been reconstructed even 11 years after an earthquakedestroyed it.

`We took up the delay in the school`s reconstruction with the district education department, local lawmal(ers and district administration but to no avail and therefore, over 240 students are getting education in the open,` former district councillor Qalandar Khan told reporters after visiting the school in Oghi on Friday.

Mr Qalandar said the issue was an eye-opener for ruling PTI`s chairman Imran Khan, who had made tall claims about the achievements of his KP government in the field of education.

`I invite Imran Khan to come here and see the light of the small schoolchildren, who attend classes on the dusty, dirty floor in the open without security,` he said.

The former councillor said the school`s teachers insisted that the contractor had left work on the building incomplete citing the shortage offunds as a reason.

`I ask the PTI chief to ensure the immediate provision of funds for the building`s reconstruction,` he said.

Mr Qalandar warned that the local residents would agitate if the building`s reconstruction was further delayed.