RAWALPINDI: The adviser to the Punjab chief minister on health, Khawaja Salman Rafique, on Saturday expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the health department in its anti-dengue campaign, after the department failed to procure kits to check for the dengue virus despite clear directions from the government.

He asked the director general of the health department to procure the kits needed to test the dengue virus in patients. The total cost of the kits is Rs1.5 million.

`After the heavy rainfall there is a fair chance that the breeding sites of dengue mosquitoes will increase and mosquitoes will spread the virus more, as compared to last year,` he said.

Mr Rafique was reviewing the arrangements for the anti-dengue campaign in the province, at the commissioner`s office. Senior health department and local administration officials from Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Sheikhupura also participated in the meeting through video link.

Mr Rafique said the provincial government has directed local administrations and health departments to hasten dengue surveillance work and adopt the standard operating procedures (SOP).

DCO Sajid Zafar Dall presented a report on the measures undertaken to prevent the spread of the dengue virus. A Reporter