HC orders judicial inquiry into ‘failure’ to control dengue outbreak

The High Court has ordered a judicial investigation into the causes that the authorities to “fail’ to control the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases dengue and chikungunya fevers.

A two-member committee headed by Dhaka’s district and sessions judge will conduct the inquiry. The other member will be a local government ministry official with the rank of no less than joint secretary, reports bdnews24.com.

The panel will investigate why the two city corporations in Dhaka failed to control the diseases.

It will identify the people responsible for the failure to control mosquitoes and find out the reasons. The committee will make recommendations to stop recurrence of such a situation like the dengue otbreak Bangladesh experienced in 2019.

The High Court has given the panel until Jan 15 to submit the report.

The panel is free to seek expert opinion from entomology departments of the Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University, iccddr, b, Institute of Public Health, and the Plant Protection Wing of the Department of Agricultural Expansion.

It can also seek the cooperation of any other related expert.

The bench of Justice Tariq Ul Hakim and Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order to form the committee after checking reports submitted by the Directorate General of Health Services, Dhaka North and South city corporations on the number of dengue patients hospitalised so far this year and the death toll.

The High Court on July 4 issued a rule on its own volition, ordering immediate steps to kill Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which bear and transmit the dengue virus, after the outbreak started in Dhaka.

The court issued instructions during hearings later, including on importing mosquito repellents as an icddr, b study revealed the mosquito-killing agents used by the city authorities were no more effective.

Around 100,000 people have been hospitalised for dengue across Bangladesh so far this year, according to the government.

The authorities confirmed 112 of the patients died from dengue this year after reviewing 179 out of 251 reports.