HC orders city corporations to import insecticides to kill mosquitoes

The High Court has tasked two Dhaka city corporations with importing insecticides to kill mosquitoes, with an order for the government to support them after a dispute brewed between the two parties.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 1 August 2019, 12:10 PM
Updated : 1 August 2019, 01:49 PM

Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Shohrowardi issued the orders on Thursday following a daylong hearing, including statement of LGRD Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed.

The Ministry of Health, the Directorate General of Health Services and the Local Government Division will have to provide all assistance to the city corporations, including issuance of licences, and clearance, the court said.

A senior doctor ranking no less than an associate professor should be given the overall responsibility to monitor the dengue treatment in every hospital. The court also ordered hospitals to provide additional beds for dengue patients.

The government has to ensure the supply of dengue test kits at affordable prices. The private hospitals also must ensure the treatment of patients with dengue symptoms for humanitarian reasons, according to the court.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services, at least 17,183 patients were diagnosed with dengue and 14 of them died. The media reported that the death toll crossed 50.

The disease will spread further if the Aedes mosquito-breeding grounds are not destroyed, said the DGHS.

The city corporations are held responsible for the spread of dengue, due to their failure to implement a proper drive to kill mosquitoes. The insecticide used by the city corporations is not effective, according to a research by ICDDR,B.

On Jul 25, the High Court made a query on the time needed to import effective insecticides. The state and the city corporations failed to provide specific answers to that.

The court ordered the authority on Tuesday to inform it the expected deadline to bring the effective insecticide killing mosquitoes by Thursday. Both city corporations and the state were asked to submit an affidavit to the court on the issue.

The city corporations informed the court that the state is responsible for insecticide imports and they are supposed to spray it.

Many people believe the insecticide being used currently is ineffective in killing mosquitoes, said Helal. On Jul 28, the foreign ministry, LGED, city corporations and the PMO officials held a meeting, he said.

“It was decided in the meeting that the city corporations will import the insecticide and we'll provide all assistance, including the fund,” he said.

The DSCC disagreed and appealed for an order on the issue.

“Both parties are trying to impose the responsibility of importing the insecticide on the other. Why don’t you import it directly? This is a crisis. You must let us know if the government will be able to import it," said the senior judge. 

The government, the foreign ministry and city corporations will complete the task soon together, the secretary said.

The prevalence of dengue may escalate in August and September, the court said. It asked the state to confirm if importing insecticides through G2G deals is possible, and the court will issue an order on it.

Later in the afternoon, Helal told the court that the city corporations will have to purchase insecticides as G2G deals to import these products of private firms were not possible.

“So, we’ve given the two city corporations licences and clearances. We will provide all necessary assistance after this,” he added.

Dhaka North City Corporation then informed the court that they had ordered samples of mosquito repellents and these were no way from China, but it would take at least two weeks to get clearance to use these following tests considering different isues, including environmental risks.