RAWALPINDI: Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema on Tuesday directed the government departments and District Health Authority to start anti-dengue drive in the city from Wednesday (today).

He was reviewing the arrangements for anti-dengue drive as spring season is described as dengue season.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Tariq, Dr Asif Arbab Niazi of District Health Authority and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The deputy commissioner asked the government departments to launch an awareness campaign about the safety measures to avoid the mosquito-bite disease.

`The banners and posters will be displayed on the main squares of the city being inscribed with the precautionary measures to educate the people,` he said and added that the health authority should start sending their teams to vulnerable areas to eliminate the dengue larvae.

He said the campaign could not be successful without the help of the citizens and they should help the health authorities in eliminating the disease from the city.

He said that the provincial government wanted to end the disease from the province and it was spending million of rupees besides employing the assistance of the experts to eradicate the disease.

He warned officials that the government would not tolerate any negligence in this regard as the health of the people was priority of the provincial government.

He said the department would focus on those areas where dengue cases were reported last year from August to November.

He said the teams would focus on all the union councils.

He said that after the registration of the houses, the staff of the health department will visit and check them. He said that the fumigation would be conducted in the areas where dengue mosquitoes found.

He said that the drive would continued till May and next phase of the drive would be started in August. He said that the district health authority and other departments will chalk out a comprehensive plan to deal with dengue-related issues soon. Staff Reporter