The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said the Aam Aadmi Party government should run awareness programmes on dengue and chikungunya the way the pan-India campaign on Swachh Bharat is being run.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan had made a huge impact across the nation and that the Delhi government should do something similar.
‘Good attempt’
“It is a very good attempt by the Central government. It’s everywhere, whether it’s TV, radio or newspapers. So something on that line should be done for dengue and chikungunya,” the Bench observed.
The Bench also pulled up the Centre, the Delhi government and the civic bodies here over their failure to issue advertisements highlighting preventive steps to check vector-borne diseases in the city.
However, the counsel for the civic bodiessaid preventive steps had been taken and advertisements issued. The counsel for the Centre said they had long-term plans to tackle vector-borne diseases. At this, the court asked whether they had any short-term plans.
Mohalla clinics
It also asked the Delhi government counsel why were they pulling senior doctors from hospitals for mohalla clinics in different parts of the city.
“It’s a very good concept but you [the Delhi government] should not pull senior doctors from the hospitals,” the Bench said.
The court’s oral observation came during the hearing of two PILs seeking direction to authorities to take steps to prevent the outbreak of vector-borne and other diseases in the Capital.
Humidity levels
The court also expressed displeasure over a report that 100 cases of chikungunya and 40 cases of dengue have already been reported this year so far and that too when humidity levels are yet to rise and monsoon to arrive. As many as 4,431 cases of dengue were reported till the end of 2016 in Delhi, according to a report of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, which tabulates the data on behalf of all three corporations in the city.
