RAWALPINDI:Punjab Chief Secretary Khizar Hayat Gondal on Tuesday expressed apprehension overtheincreasing number of dengue patients in Rawalpindi and asked the departments concerned to improve anti-dengue activities.

He also urged citizens to cooperate with the government department teams to eliminate dengue mosquitoes from thecity.

Mr Gondal reviewed the anti-dengue drive in the city at a meeting held at the commissioner office.

`In 2011, as many as 22,000 dengue patients were reported in Lahore and with the cooperation of citizens the government improved the situation. As a result, this year only 20 dengue patients were reported in Lahore,` he said.

The chief secretary said such an activity should be carried out in Rawalpindi too where 1,500 dengue patients havebeen reported.

`The desired results cannot be achieved without the cooperation of the people and involvement of the local residents,` he said.

The chief secretary asked the provincial department secretaries to visit different areas of Rawalpindi to monitor the work.

He said Punjab government had provided funds, machinery as well and manpower for the antidengue campaigns and now it was theduty of the government officials to pay attention to their work.

The meeting was informed that the number of dengue patients increased despite continuous efforts by the teams.

However, the chief secretary sought the help of health experts to explain the reasons for the increasing number of dengue cases.

The health experts informed the meeting that in the coming 15 days the number of the dengue patients would decrease.

Mr Gondal said the local administration should pay attention to those areas from where a large number of patients had reported to government hospitals.

However, he made it clear not to ignore those areas where the number of the dengue cases was not high.

Later, the chief secretary visited Satellite Town to inspect fogging by antidengue teams. He also visited Mughlai graveyard to see whether the TMA had cleaned it.

The official also visited Benazir Bhutto Hospital where more than 120 dengue patients were admitted.

Commissioner Zahid Saeed told Dawn that the local administration was working to eliminate dengue mosquitoes and to monitor its work, two teams of the local government and agriculture departments had arrived from Lahore.