Pakistani family caught carrying 'mosquito bag' into hospital

Hospital authorities suspect the mosquitos were 'carriers of a lethal diesease.'

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NEW DELHI: Authorities in a Pashawar-based hospital averted a bizzare health emergency when security guards apprehended a family carrying a bag full of mosquitoes into the premises. According to a report in Pakistan's Dawn, the mosquitoes may have been 'carriers of a lethal diesease.' 

A family of four were stopped last week when they were seen carrying a suspicious bag into Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC). When halted, the family members told security personnel that they had been promised money in exchange for carrying the bag full of mosqitoes into the hospital. Dr Shahzad Akbar - director at HMC - was quoted as saying that the virus-spreading mosquitoes could have caused a big medical emergency had they been let out. This at a time when the local administration has already declared a health emergency due to rising cases of vector-borne diseases like dengue.

While the family - strangely, say some - was let off with just a warning, mosquito-borne diseases continue to be a massive threat to people in not just in Pakistan but the entire South-Asia region. According to a World Health Organisation report, over 2.5 billion people around the world are at risk from dengue alone. It says that 500,000 people are diagnosed with serious dengue cases yearly and that 2.5 per cent of them never make it out.