The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday took serious note of recent dengue deaths in Rajapalayam in Virudhunagar district and told top officials of health department that it expects much better action towards prevention of such deadly diseases.
When a petition filed by social activist K.K. Ramesh came up for hearing on Monday, a Division Bench of Justices S. Tamilvanan and V.S. Ravi directed the officials to file by Tuesday a comprehensive report on the steps taken by them so far to control the mosquito menace.
S. Saravanan, Joint Director of Public Health (Vector Borne Disease Control programme), Chennai and Deputy Directors from Madurai, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram and Theni were present in the court apart from the deans of Government Hospitals in Madurai and Sivaganga. Arguing his case, the petitioner accused the officials of not taking sufficient action to control vector borne diseases and claimed that many dengue and chikungunya deaths had been suppressed since the officials were bent upon dismissing them as deaths due to “mysterious fever.”
Denying the allegations, Dr. Saravanan said that so far only eight confirmed dengue deaths had been reported in Rajapalayam while there was no concrete proof to conclude that seven other deaths were only due to dengue since the deceased were suffering from other complications. Additional Government Pleader C. Selvaraj told the court that so far 2,196 patients had been treated for dengue successfully. He also said that the health department had opened separate wards in government hospitals for those suffering from vector borne diseases.
During the course of the arguments, Mr. Justice Tamilvanan referred to newspaper reports and said that the problem appeared to be very serious. “Total denial will not solve the problem. We are concerned about the lives of people, particularly children. It is the anguish of the Bench that more needs to be done.”
