PHC orders effective steps to curb dengue spread

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) observed on Thursday that dengue outbreak in the province was a serious issue and asked the government to take effective steps for curbing this deadly disease instead of making it a political issue.

“Don’t make it a political issue as hundreds of people have been infected by dengue virus. Serious and effective measures should be taken to curb the deadly disease,” Justice Abdul Shakoor observed while hearing the writ petition filed for seeking order of the court to the district and provincial governments to take immediate steps for containing and eliminating dengue virus.

The bench comprising Justice Abdul Shakoor and Justice Syed Muhammad Attique Shah summoned Additional Director Health Department, Punjab, who is supervising treatment to dengue patients by the health experts of Punjab in Peshawar, to inform the court of the present situation and measures to be taken to curb the disease.

The bench also asked the deputy commissioner Peshawar to appear in the court today.District Health Officer (DHO) Gul Muhammad and Deputy Commissioner Peshawar, Saqib Raza, appeared in the court.

The DHO submitted that the government had taken steps including fumigation and providing free treatment to patients for curbing the disease. Besides, he said the government had also started awareness raising campaign. He produced the August 21 report on dengue virus from Khyber Teaching Hospital wherein 500 patients were tested positive and only five had died of the disease.

Lawyer Saifullah Mohib Kakakhel, who had filed the writ petition, informed the bench that as per the data released by Khyber Teaching Hospital on August 19 the number of infected patients was 800 and it was increasing day by day. He submitted that the officials were concealing the facts about the total number of dengue patients in the province.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Muhammad Issa Khan, who is a resident of Tehkal village in Peshawar worst hit by the dengue disease, has also become a party in the case. He informed the court that his three children were also infected by dengue virus.

The former Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) from Tehkal area, Atifur Rehman, also appeared in the court and informed the court about the situation in his locality.

He said the government in the beginning did not take practical steps to curb the disease and even now fumigation spray was being done in selected areas. He said the situation worsened in the city when the doctors at the government hospitals gave only Panadol tablet and discharged the patients without proper treatment.

Atifur Rehman told the court that the administration of public hospitals was not issuing death certificates to the legal heirs of the patients who had died of the dengue virus.

Justice Abdul Shakoor observed that the legal heirs could get registered first information reports against the officials concerned for the deaths of the patients due to improper treatment and negligence.