LHC seeks report on dengue outbreak

LAHORE
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday sought report and parawise comments from the Punjab health secretary, the district coordination officer and the Solid Waste Management managing director within seven days, on a petition claiming that dengue fever in Punjab was taking shape of an epidemic owing to negligence on the part of the government.
Justice Sheikh Ahmad Farooq passed the order on a petition filed by Ahmad Ghani, a resident of Lahore, through his counsel Noshab A Khan. The petitioner claimed that the Punjab government did not take the required preventive measures to check the spread of dengue virus.
He said that he was a suspected dengue patient and visited various government hospitals for treatment but he was sent back without treatment. More than 2,000 dengue cases have been registered while the actual number of victims was likely to rise because the government had failed to take preventive measures, he claimed.
Lahore DCO and the Solid Waste Management MD should have adopted an effective strategy to control the disease than just relying on fumigation. He submitted that the officers’ failure was an infringement of fundamental rights of the petitioner as enshrined in the constitution.
The petitioner prayed the court to direct the government to provide necessary medical treatment to him and the respondents should be taken to task. After hearing the arguments, the court sought a report from the respondents within seven days.
The petitioner pleaded that the Punjab government had also failed to increase the number of blood banks and blood cell separators in government hospitals.