Dengue: Telangana High Court summons Special Chief Secretary, Health officials

Hyderabad: Spiralling of dengue cases in Telangana in the last three to four months has pushed the Telangana Health department into a tight corner. Telangana High Court which was hearing into a PIL on dengue expressed its dissatisfaction and summoned Special Chief Secretary (Health), Health commissioner, Director (Health) and even GHMC commissioner to attend the Thursday hearing on this issue.

According to officials, the Court expressed its dissatisfaction over the handling of dengue by the Health department in the hearing held on Wednesday. It was attended by officials from the Health department as well as the GHMC

It may be noted that Telangana was in the grip of dengue for over three months this monsoon season. Positive cases touched three-figure mark every day across Telangana on some days. Twelve districts including Hyderabad were identified as high-risk for this mosquito-borne tropical disease. Khammam, Suryapet, Nalgonda, Warangal Rural and Urban districts, Medchal, Jagtial, Medak, Sircilla, Mancherial, Nagarkurnool and Nirmal were the most affected with several positive cases surfacing day after day.

Though the Health department swung into action to take required steps, positive cases are still surfacing and the suspected dengue deaths figure has crossed 70 this season. A few days ago, Jayamma, a second additional junior civil judge in Khammam and a junior child artist in Hyderabad reportedly died of dengue. According to officials, the number of positive cases decreased big time at present and the number reported across Telangana has not exceeded two digits for the last few weeks.