NAWABSHAH, Nov 6: Members of district council on Tuesday vented their anger on the district’s health department which they alleged had completely failed to perform its duty to people.

Mohammad Hussain Bughio, Hanif Chandio, Ghulam Mustafa Soomro and Syed Munir Shah said at the council’s meeting presided over by Abdul Haq Jamali that the department had failed to provide health facilities.

Every nook and corner of the district was teeming with mosquitoes and deadly diseases like hepatitis were spreading rapidly but the department had not taken any preventive measures or created awareness among people about the diseases.

They complained that an X-ray machine and ambulance at Rural Health Centre Qazi Ahmed, which mainly dealt with accidents on the National Highway, had been out of order for a long time while many doctors and paramedics appointed at RHCs and BHUs of the district did not attend to their duties.

The department had also failed to take any action against quacks, they said.

The executive district officer of health, Dr Arif Qazi, said while responding to the members’ complaints that anti-mosquito spray had been carried out in many union councils of the city.

The department was short of funds and could not afford expenses incurred on launching a drive for spray, he said, adding that if any union council nazim wanted to carry out spray he should afford the charges.

He said that the department had sought experts’ help to repair the X-ray machine. It had been repaired but one could not guarantee when it would develop faults again and the department had to make do with it because it had adequate funds to purchase a new machine, he said.

About action against quacks, the official said that police did not cooperate with the department when they approached them to register cases against them.

The members were also angry with the Baitul Maal officer who did not attend the session for the second consecutive time despite repeated calls by the council.