Telangana State govt should declare health emergency: Majlis Bachao Tehreek

Chanchalguda : Demanding that the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao declare health emergency in the wake of spurt in cases of dengue and other seasonal fevers, which affected most of State population, Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) questioned why a high-level review meeting was not being held to take stock of the situation and alert the entire State machinery.

Speaking to media persons, MBT official spokesman Amjedullah Khan said that the city hospitals – both govt and private – tested over 1.15 lakh blood samples and confirmed that 372 tested positive for dengue up to August this year for seasonal ailments – a figure higher than any other year for the corresponding period. The number of dengue cases in the city was rising every year. There were 145 cases in 2017 and 220 cases in 2018.

"There are close to 100 reported deaths because of dengue and people are falling sick because of the prevailing weather conditions. Viral fever, nausea and vomiting, body pain and loose motions have become common amongst households. Hence it is high time the government announced health emergency and alerted the entire administration to put coordinated efforts to tackle the problem," he said.

On the issue of mosquito breeding grounds, the MBT leader alleged that the GHMC entomology department remained inactive and barely can be seen near households, conducting anti-larvae operations.

"Fogging is not an effective way to combat mosquito problem. About 5 to 7 years back, the GHMC workers used to visit lanes and households, while spraying insecticide. Entomology which is a separate wing of the GHMC has huge budgetary allocations to fight the menace, but it remains ineffective. In the recent years, the insecticide is being mixed with kerosene which dilutes the power and GHMC is barely getting the desired result," he lamented.

At least now, he hoped that the Chief Minister would direct the Health Minister Eatala Rajender to catch-hold of the situation and conduct meeting of High Power Committee comprising of officials from different departments to put coordinated effort in combating health related issues, particularly in bringing down the number of Dengue cases," he added.