KANNUR: In a bizarre development, three courts functioning at the district court complex in Thalassery were closed till Friday after judicial officers, advocates and others complained of physical discomfort. The temporary closure was announced on Wednesday with the permission of the High Court.
Around 55 people, who were at the additional district sessions court (2), additional district sessions court (3) and principal sub-court over the past week, had complained of uneasiness, itching and headache. On Thursday, blood and fluid samples of 23 people, including judicial officers, court staff and advocates of the three courts, were sent to the Virology Institute, Alappuzha, for detailed medical examination.
“There is nothing to worry about. From the preliminary examination of the patients, it looks like some sort of a viral disease. We have sent the samples to the virology institute in Alappuzha. We can say more about it only after getting the results,” said Dr V K Rajeevan, superintendent, of General Hospital, Thalassery. “It seems the disease is not contagious as no family member of the affected people has reported any discomfort,” he said.
A high-level medical team from the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital and Kannur Government Medical College Hospital, Pariyaram, visited the Thalassery court on Thursday evening to take stock of the situation.
Med team visits court complex at Thalassery
They examined the judicial officers, court staff and advocates and collected the medical reports of the persons who experienced uneasiness. The team also checked the court premises, where the construction of a new court building is underway.
The team will visit the court complex in the coming days too. Meanwhile, two persons at the public prosecutor’s office functioning in the same complex complained of uneasiness and body pain on Thursday. “We have been feeling discomfort for the past three to four days,” said advocate G P Gopalakrishnan, president of Bar Association, Thalassery.
“Initially, we thought, it might be fever or some sort of illness. But, as everybody started experiencing uneasiness, we felt something was not quite right here,” he said. Most of them had the same symptoms, like itching, headache, tiredness and body pain.
Some said the symptoms started appearing around 10 days ago. On Wednesday, a medical team led by DMO MP Jeeja visited the court. Following the visit, a medical camp too was held at the court complex by the team led by Dr Rajeevan, Dr K Sasidharan and Dr M Sreejesh.