Judicial oversight: ‘Negligence in dengue fight will not be tolerated’

Health secy told to bring detailed information about insecticide in next hearing.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court chief justice on Friday grilled the Health Secretary about the measures taken by the department to control the dengue virus and to provide relief to the affected people.

Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry directed Health Secretary Jehanzeb Khan to come to the next hearing on September 23 with a detailed report with answers to all questions.

The CJ had earlier asked him the date of the first anti-dengue spray in the city and for information about the insecticide used for the spray.

Justice Chaudhry said had the government officials performed their duties properly so many people would not have complained about ineffective fumigation in their areas and insufficient facilities at public hospitals.

The report Khan submitted to the court on Friday stated that fumigation had been carried out throughout the city. He said the mosquito responsible for spreading dengue virus had come to the country a few years ago.

The CJ remarked that the spray campaign should have been completed by February to eliminate breeding of the mosquito.

The chief justice said it was a failure on the part of the government and that those responsible for it would be held accountable.

The Health Department report had also said that separate wards had been set up for dengue fever patients at public hospitals. It said 5,019 cases of dengue fever cases had so far been reported in the city.

The CJ reprimanded District Coordination Officer Ahad Cheema for not submitting a separate report on city district government’s performance. He directed the DCO to file a separate report on the next hearing.

Justice Chaudhry earlier directed Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique to file a separate petition seeking registration of criminal cases against federal government officials whose negligence, he claimed, had originally caused the dengue virus outbreak.

Siddique had said that the virus came to Pakistan with used tyres the federal government had allowed to be imported from Thailand. He had requested the court to take action against the officials responsible for importing those tyres without taking proper precautions.

Petitionor Advocate Noshab A Khan had submitted in his petition that the health secretary and other concerned officials be summoned in the court to explain why they could not comprehend the magnitude of the problem and take remedial measures in advance.

The petitioner had further requested the court to direct the health secretary to provide free-of-charge medical facilities to all dengue fever patients in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2011.