The Telangana high court has taken a serious view of the rising dengue cases in the state and has subsequently asked the government to tackle the 'emergency-like situation' on priority, reported TOI. Slamming the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for not carrying out fogging in affected areas, the court asked for a report by September 11 on the steps that need to be taken in order to contain the damage and medical care provided to patients in government hospitals.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan said the rate of death from dengue and viral fevers in the state were alarming.

“The state is in an emergency-like situation. Spreading of dengue and viral diseases in Telangana is at its peak because of which people are dying,” TOI reported the Chief Justice as saying. He further added that press reports pointed out how the government hospitals lacked medicines, infrastructure, doctors and paramedical staff and that the situation was dismal.

The Chief Justice alluded to newspaper reports that spoke of how the GHMC is not taking up fogging in residential areas hit by dengue, stating how more than 60 percent of the people had fallen ill because of the mosquito-borne disease.

The bench said this while dealing with two PILs which questioned the government on the steps taken to contain dengue.

Chief Justice Chauhan also directed advocate general BS Prasad to inform the court by September 11 as to what steps had been taken by the government to deal with a large number of patients flocking to government hospitals, adding that the report should also mention if the hospitals have sufficient medicines, proper infrastructure and doctors to tackle cases of dengue.

Notably, the Chief Justice said that the entire medical fraternity, including the government and private hospitals need to take ownership of the ways to tackle dengue menace.

Notably, the bench was hearing a PIL filed by Dr M Karuna of Kompalli in Medchal. Dr Karuna accused the state of negligence, whose counsel Kowturu Pavan Kumar told the court that the Supreme Court had given clear guidelines to prevent spread of epidemic diseases, including setting up of school health committees.

Advocate general BS Prasad, on his part informed the bench that the government has directed the private hospitals to extend service to patients hit by dengue. Furthermore, he added that fogging has been taken up in places where dengue is at peak.