The Bombay high court directed the joint director of the state health department to inspect the BMC’s headquarters and its various wards and look into whether it has followed the recommendations of th
The Bombay high court directed the joint director of the state health department to inspect the BMC’s headquarters and its various wards and look into whether it has followed the recommendations of the state-appointed committee to curb diseases such as leptospirosis, H1N1, dengue, swine flu and malaria. The court also directed the joint director to submit a report within four weeks.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A.A. Sayed was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by NCP corporator, Dhananjay Pisal, seeking direction for formation of a special investigation team to probe how the civic body had used money allotted for public health, especially when cases of leptospirosis, H1N1, dengue, swine flu and malaria were on the rise. The petitioner alleged that the BMC had failed to provide adequate medicine, equipment and staff to its hospitals despite having the funds for it. According to the PIL, '3,700 crore was earmarked for public health in the BMC budget but was not fully utilised. The PIL also stated that previous records indicate utilisation of a mere 18 to 20 per cent of funds allotted for healthcare. It further said that only one municipal hospital had facilities to test samples for leptospirosis, whereas such facilities should be set up in every civic hospital.
The state government on February 5 this year had filed its affidavit and made it clear that the BMC was the main authority to look into the matter. The state government had set up the Maharashtra Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control Technical Committee (MCDPCTC) to find out ways to curb communicable diseases and asked the BMC to follow that. The committee had given recommendations like establishment of control room, well-prepared administrative system, effective communication between concerned departments, focus on high risk wards, regular water quality monitoring, adequate logistics, rapid response team in each ward and public awareness system.
Earlier this week, deputy health officer of the BMC, Dr Padmaja Kesarkar, submitted the BMC’s affidavit in the HC saying that all recommendations given by MCDPCTC had been fully complied with. “Whenever the state government’s appointed committee gives us any recommendations, we have to follow those,” said Trupti Puranik, BMC counsel, adding that accordingly, they had followed all recommendations. The petitioner’s lawyer, Umesh Mohite, expressed disbelief on the BMC affidavit saying that the BMC did not comply with any of the committee’s recommendations and did not set up any control room to receive complaints from the public.
