PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Friday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to set up a special anti-dengue cell at the provincial level and provide the latest anti-dengue testing machines to all major hospitals to control the current outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in Peshawar and other areas.

Justice Qalandar Ali Khan and Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan directed the provincial director general (health services) to appear in person and produce a detailed report on the dengue situation on Aug 28 and adjourned hearing until then into a petition of lawyer Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel against the alleged negligence of the provincial government towards the current dengue outbreak.

The bench also summoned the hospital directors of Peshawar’s all medical teaching institutions asking them to produce a report about the diagnostic and patient treatment measures adopted by them.

Seeks detailed report about the latest on outbreak of mosquito-borne disease

It also expressed annoyance at the delay in the completion of a major drains reconstruction project along the Peshawar University Road, one of the city main arteries, which the petitioner claimed was one of the major cause of the spreading of dengue virus due to presence of stagnant water since last over a year.

The court ordered that the project should be completed at the earliest, otherwise, the digging should be stopped and all the dug places should be covered.

Further directing the government, the court ordered that the anti-dengue campaign should not remain only confine to Peshawar rather it should be expanded to other cities. IT was directed that public as well as media should be given access to information about the latest situation of the disease.

The bench ordered the provision of all relevant health facilities to dengue patients free of charge.

It also examined a report submitted by Peshawar deputy commissioner Saqib Raza and directed him to continue efforts until the eradication of the disease.

The court also directed the DC to submit report on daily basis about the dengue situation. Additional director general of the Dengue Control Programme, Punjab, Dr Farrukh, informed the bench that apart from his province’s mobile health units stationed in different areas, five entomologists and six assistant entomologists were present in his team, which had been performing in Peshawar for the last couple of days.

He added that the experts of the Dengue Expert Advisory Group of the Punjab had also shared their expertise with officials of KP health department.

The official said until Aug 25, the team had examined 4,760 people, performed screening tests on 907 people and found 258 dengue patients.

Deputy commissioner Saqib Raza told the court that for all four towns in Peshawar, the administration had constituted rapid response teams, which had been assigned task to carryout required spray in houses and areas from where a dengue case was reported.

He added that the administration had constituted 90 teams which had been conducting house-to-house anti-dengue spraying campaign.

Senior advocate Essa Khan, former Senator Haji Ghulam Ali and ex-MPA Ateefur Rehman also appeared and expressed dissatisfaction at the steps taken by the provincial government against dengue. Petitioner Saifullah Kakakhel requested the bench to issue directives to the health department to maintain accurate data on dengue and share it with the media.

He said major hospitals except Khyber Teaching Hospital lacked the latest dengue testing machines and therefore, the government should be directed to provide the said machines to major hospitals without delay.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2017