Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday issued notice to Chief Secretary of J&K on a Public Interest Litigation, seeking directions for taking effective preventive measures to combat the epidemic of Corona Virus.
Hearing the petition, a division bench of the court directed the J&K’s top officer to file the response by March 16.
The PIL has also sought directions to the government to formulate a policy laying the infrastructure for the comprehensive prevention, control and treatment of the epidemic of Corona Virus and to set up special Fever Hospitals and isolated treatment centers managed by specially trained medical and para-medical staff. It also seeks directions to provide facilities for conduct of all pathological tests and treatment free of cost and set up special screening system for the detection of suspected or infected persons at airports, bus and railway terminals across the territory.
The PIL states that the epidemic of Novel Corona Virus is reported to have extended its impact to this part of the globe as well, which is manifest from the isolation of some suspected patients in SKIMS. Apart from such prognosis the influx of tourists and repatriation of local residents from China and other affected regions is likely to keep the situation vulnerable and further compounded by the ill-preparedness of the authorities and the recessive medical facilities, it says.
“That the local government has yet to come up with any concrete policy to combat the impeding outbreak of the disease,” it says. The hygienic condition of hospitals and primary health care centres continues to remain by and large dismal, they said.
“The standardized preventive measures globally in vogue,provide for screening and pre-emptive quarantine of the suspected patients generally manifested by paraxia (fever, influenza etc.), besides commissioning of special Fever Hospitals at isolated places. Special vigil at Airports, Railway and Bus terminal is generally advised as a mode of preventive measure for identifying the victims and the carriers of the disease. Under the precarious conditions, the state health department is under an obligation to adopt and promote the preventive measures in a concerted manner, lest to render the spread of the epidemic inevitable.”
The PIL says that the crowded places like schools, hospitals, public utility centres including courts require special attention on sanitization and taking such measures to sieve off the infected people. “It is noticed that primary schools in Delhi have been closed to prevent the infestation of virus among the children. In the absence of such preventive measures the situation is likely to get adverse and its control ineffective.”
The PI also says that medical and para-medical staff is required to be trained and equipped with the method of preventive treatment and management of the epidemic with special attention towardsprophylactic measures. “The state government is under an obligation to develop infrastructure for keeping in readiness the Personal Protective Equipments for the medical and para-medical staff. The government is under an obligation to create awareness among the masses towards the development of immunity and inculcate sense of hygiene. The government is also responsible for keeping pathological laboratories accessible for the instant diagnostic tests.”
