Daily Times

KARACHI: Following much hue and cry in failing to control the Chikungunya epidemic, which has affected hundreds of thousands of people in Karachi since last December, the Sindh Health Department has finally initiated the step for its face saving.

In this connection, Sindh Health Department’s Dengue Control Program on Wednesday announced to introduce Motorcycle bound Fumigation machine (Motofog) in metropolis.

“We have bought 30 Motorcycle-bound Fumigation machines, five Suzuki- bound Fumigation machines and also 20 shoulder fogger machines from South Korea.,” said Dr Masood Solangi, programme manager of Sindh’s Dengue Prevention and Control Programme, as the provincial focal person for Chikungunya control and management programme.

“The purchasing cost around 10 million rupees,” he added.

He claimed that Motorcycle bound Fumigation machines are introduced for the first time in Pakistan.

“The main advantage of this will be that this Motofog is that it can easily approach narrow lanes where Suzuki bound machine has no access,” Dr Solangi added.

He said this is the first time that fumigation device would be under direct control of Dengue Control Program.

However Dr Solangi said the staff to run these machines has not been hired. “Hopefully the process to hire the staff would be soon completed,” he added. “The fumigation would only start when there would be staff,” Solangi said.

Fumigation has remained a bone of contention between various government bodies of Sindh government including Health Department, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and District Metropolitan Corporations. However the suffers are the masses who have left helpless during epidemics like Chikungunya and Dengue.

At present, the population which is mostly affected by Chikungunya is from the slums areas of this city, especially in Malir, Orangi, Keamari, Lyari, Ibrahim Hyderi and Korangi.

Last week, a World Health Organization (WHO) mission visiting Karachi to investigate the Chikungunya outbreak in the city asked the Sindh Health Department to involve the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and other stakeholders to improve environmental conditions for vector control as the epidemic could only be controlled by eradicating the mosquito responsible for the epidemic.

Visiting WHO team warned that if environmental and sanitation conditions were not improved, Zika virus could also play havoc in Karachi as its carrier was also the same vector, which causes the dengue fever and Chikungunya disease and asked the authorities to act timely to thwart the threat of Zika virus, which mostly affects pregnant women and hampers the development of fetus in womb.

WHO also expressed their dissatisfaction of health department’s ill-preparedness in dealing with the viral disease or any other kind of epidemic and recommended to the health authorities in the province to enhance capacity of healthcare providers including doctors, paramedics, nurses and even administrative officials to deal with the Chikungunya outbreak.

“In its recommendations, WHO kept garbage collecting and improving sanitation as it stressed to control the breeding ground. However it stressed up on the chemical control which is through fumigation,” Dr Solangi added.