Monkey pox is a deadly disease imported from abroad, has sounded an alarm for the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa like the rest of the country. Therefore it is necessary to implement the instructions of Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif and take measures on a war footing regarding monkey pox in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides implement emergency throughout the province.
After the case of monkey pox was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the responsibilities of the provincial health minister and his department have increased. It should be remembered that a case of monkey pox has reported in Mardan due to which the danger has increased for other cities of the province as well.
Regarding the case in Mardan, DHO Dr. Javed Iqbal has said that a 34-year-old resident of Mangah came from Saudi Arabia 5 days ago after breaking his leg but the monkey pox test was done he proved monkey pox positive, then patient was quarantined at home.
DHO Dr. Javed Iqbal said that the patient’s condition is better and he is in good health. On the other hand the health department says that Screening was done in the patient’s family and neighborhood, currently no other person has symptoms of monkey pox.
Earlier, Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Health Dr. Mukhtar Malik said that 4 cases were reported from Punjab and 3 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While one case each has been reported from Balochistan and Sindh, its symptoms appear in 4 to 15 days, fever, body pain and enlarged glands are the symptoms of M. pox, those with low immunity from M. pox. Children are more affected. He said if anyone shows symptoms of monkey pox, he should be quarantined.
To prevent the monkey pox virus. The Civil Aviation Authority has ordered airlines coming from abroad to provide masks to all passengers, remember that Peshawar’s Bacha Khan and Karachi’s Jinnah International Airports are being closely monitored for passengers coming from abroad.
The monkey pox vaccine is not available in most of the hospitals across the country due to which problems may arise. Therefore it’s necessary to establish contact with the World Health Organization in this regard so that the vaccine can be obtained from it. Recently, the World Health Organization has declared monkey pox as a global health emergency.
According to the World Health Organization, a new variant of monkey pox is spreading in 13 countries in Africa. At the moment the spread of monkey pox continues rapidly in the African country of Congo. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Africa says that there is a need for one million doses of monkey pox vaccine in Africa, but only 0.2 million doses are available at the moment. The center is working to ensure the availability of vaccines.
Africa CDC says that more than 15,000 cases of monkey pox have been reported in Africa this year and 461 deaths have occurred. This number is eighty times higher than last year. 160% more than the period and so far people affected by this disease have been reported in 18 countries.
In Pakistan, 9 cases of monkey pox have been reported so far and one death has occurred. Measures have also been decided to prevent M-pox and other diseases including Zika virus at all entry points of Pakistan. The National Command and Operations Center has decided to close the border following the increasing cases of monkey pox worldwide and the spread of Zika virus in India.
Health services have been alerted. NCOC officials have issued instructions to monitor travelers coming to Pakistan from abroad and to quarantine suspected monkey pox patients in special wards.
In this situation, it is necessary for the Pakistani authorities to monitor the passengers coming from the Arab and African countries, because both regions are in our neighborhood so we may be more at risk from them while at domestic level it can be more dangerous.
An embargo should be enforced mainly because one death has been reported so far from this deadly disease. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, the staff of all the airports of the country also need to be vaccinated to prevent the spread of this deadly disease. It is hoped that the federal and provincial governments will not avoid to take measures according to the SOPs of world health organization.
