Hamza terms dengue fever spread govt’s ‘incompetence’

LAHORE: Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz has criticised the government for people’s deaths due to dengue fever and demanded the Lahore High Court take notice of the “incompetence” of the government.

In a statement issued here Wednesday, he said apart from inflation, poverty and unemployment, the country has also been left at the mercy of dengue.

Hamza Shehbaz said that the government’s statistics showed that more than 24,000 cases had been reported from Punjab and 127 people had lost their lives this year but the real picture was far worse.

“The government’s data is unreliable which was confirmed by a government report itself,” he claimed. The government has committed “criminal negligence” for not providing cheap test for dengue, he maintained and demanded the Lahore High Court take notice and hold the perpetrators accountable. “The Punjab government should follow Shehbaz Sharif’s model by implementing the health emergency in practice so that this epidemic can be controlled,” he suggested.