Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have expressed serious reservations over the performance of provincial government for controlling dengue virus in Peshawar and warned to block University Road and Bara Road in protest if immediate steps are not taken for treatment of affected people and spray in dengue-hit localities.
Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, JI's former provincial minister Kashif Azam said that spread of dengue virus had taken a shape of epidemic in Peshawar, especially in various localities of PK-6 and government's measures for its control were next to nil.
He said that most affected areas including Tehkal, Pawaka, Sufaid Dheri and Peshtakhara where maximum of the patients belonged to very poor families and are unable to afford expenditures of blood tests. He said that Khyber Teaching Hospital is overcrowded and Hayatabad Medical Complex is not accommodating for different reasons.
"Provincial government has nominated the deputy commissioner as focal person for the dengue issue but he and the district health officer had never been observed to visit the affected areas at least to express solidarity with heirs of the deceased people," the former minister said. Flanked by scores of elders including Jan Muhammad of Pawaki and Sajjad Raza, he said on one hand the dengue is further spreading with each passing day and on the other the officials of local government had stopped conducting the anti-dengue spray which had caused serious unrest among the locals.
"We appeal to chief of the army staff General Qamar Javaid Bajwa to order sending army medical core staff in emergency otherwise the virus is going to be out of control," he feared and said that his party was also part of the provincial government but it is his basic right to raise voice for solution to peoples' problems.
He appreciated the efforts of Town-III Nazim Arbab Muhammad Ali; he made for prevention of dengue virus, saying that the Nazim took timely action but lacked technical support. The people, he said are facing serious problems in the hospitals where beds are also not available and most of them were crying for financial support to purchase medicines and blood tests. The provincial government had claimed to provide health facilities through its 'sehat ka insaf' scheme but it failed to do so as only tall claims could not solve problems.
The former minister said that Al-Khidmat Foundation, JI's party charity organization had extended support in carrying out various tests and provided medicines at least to 2500 patients but the challenge was so huge that only government-run departments could overcome it.
The other elders Sajjad Raza and Jan Muhammad warned that if government stopped the anti-dengue spray the people would come to the streets and in case of any untoward incident the entire responsibility would rest with administration.