Islamabad, Oct 19 (IANS) The Sindh Health Department has put the total number of dengue cases in the Pakistan province at 819, but figures obtained by three major Karachi hospitals and one public sector laboratory and its branches in Hyderabad suggest an outbreak-like situation, with the actual number going beyond 12,000 in just six weeks, local media reported on Sunday.

The Pakistani government had said that one person died due to dengue in July. However, independent figures indicate four dengue patients in Hyderabad and two in Karachi who lost their lives after they were infected with the mosquito-borne disease.

As the Pakistani government remained tight-lipped about the discrepancy in figures, a senior Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) official raised doubts over the credibility of official figures, saying their stats did not represent the ground reality, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported.

According to official figures released by the Director General, Health Services, the number of dengue cases in Karachi division and Hyderabad district in 2025 was 579 and 119, respectively. However, figures gathered from three hospitals in Karachi – Indus Hospital (IH), Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) and the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Centre (SIDHRC) showed that 2,972 dengue cases have been reported from September 1 to October 16.

The fourth hospital – the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre- also reported 1,062 dengue cases from July till now. Sources said that there are high number of dengue cases at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), comparatively more than the cases reported in 2024 and a few deaths.

Hyderabad is facing an alarming situation as the data gathered from the Diagnostic and Research Laboratory (DRL) of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro, and its branches showed 9,075 dengue cases from September 1 to October 14.

PMA Sindh President Bashir Ahmed Khaskheli termed the situation far more serious than what the official data revealed and said that official figures did not represent the ground reality.

“There is no official mechanism in place to get feedback from private clinics operating in every nook and corner of a locality, as well as private hospitals, quacks and even hakeems. Many people constrained by their financial resources don’t even opt for laboratory tests,” he told Dawn.

Faisal Mahmood, professor of infectious diseases and associate chief medical officer at the AKUH, also confirmed the rise in dengue cases, stressed that the end of October was the only season when the majority of dengue cases were reported.

–IANS

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