Hyderabad: Not getting the desired information in the report submitted by the principal secretary, health and family welfare, about preventive measures implemented by the state to eradicate swine flu (H1N1), the Telangana High Court termed it vague and sought a comprehensive report by May 8.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Rajasheker Reddy was dealing with a taken-up PIL based on a letter from advocate Rapolu Bhasker in regarding the lack of provision of medical facilities in government hospitals to treat diseases like swine flu, malaria, and dengue, due to which most patients affected are forced to get admitted in private hospitals.
The High Court found fault with the report submitted by the principal secretary, even after it had sought a detailed report after perusal of the first report. The bench said the authorities were trying to and mislead the court with vague reports and high-flown language.
Pointing out the submissions in the report with simple tabular statistics about the preventive and protective measures under the caption ‘sanitizers supplied’ and ‘drugs, capsules, vaccines supplied’, Justice Chauhan said the court would not allow imprecise and inexact reports in the papers without showing the field level action.
Recalling the role of bureaucrats in the fodder scam in Bihar, where crores of rupees were spent on buying fodder and not showing the buffaloes to whom the fodder was supplied, he observed, “We don’t want Telangana state to become like Bihar.’
The court asked where vaccines and drugs were supplied and awareness camps conducted in the state. “How many times has the Telangana state government sent its medical teams to slums which are termed as hot spots for this serious ailment? … How many camps have been conducted in the slums... have medical teams made door to door visits? How will the state establish that it is serious in eradicating the ailment,” the bench asked.
Justice Chauhan asked Mr Sanjeev Kumar, special counsel for the government, as to what steps the state had taken to prevent persons from getting affected by swine flu as the report stated that in Hyderabad city, 606 patients had tested positive for the infection this year. The report stated that between January and April 22, 5,574 patients were identified, of whom 1,165 had tested positive across the state.
The bench said the report of the principal secretary, health, and the response of the Centre should be submitted by May 8.
