Submit action plan to tackle COVID third wave: Telangana High Court tells state government
HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to submit an action plan to deal with the impending third wave of Covid-19 within a week. The court also sought details about the minutes of the meetings of the expert committee constituted to advise on steps to rein in the virus. A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice MS Ramchander Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar have been monitoring the steps taken by the State government to curtail further spread of Covid- 19, its impact on the people, medical aid extended to patients, infrastructure and medical staff in the private and government hospitals by adjudicating a batch of 25 PILs and writ petitions filed by various petitioners.
While going through the report submitted by the Director of Medical Health and Family Welfare, the bench expressed its discontent as it lacked information on the steps taken to tackle the near certain third wave of Coronavirus in the State. The court expressed anguish over the submissions of State Advocate General B S Prasad who said he was not sure whether the expert committee comprising medical experts has met even once or not, despite the orders of the court.
The bench directed the AG to ensure that the minutes of the experts committee meetings are furnished to the court on the next date of hearing. The bench blamed the Assistant Solicitor General (ASG) N Rajeshwara Rao, representing the Union Health Ministry for not taking a decision in respect of inclusion of the life saving drugs required for treating Covid- 19 patients in the national list of essential medicines and sought immediate action on this crucial issue by the next date of hearing.
The bench further cautioned the Centre and the State government to be more cautious in dealing with the impending third wave and advised them to be more proactive in taking faster decisions, rather than waiting for the untoward incidents to occur.
TS given a week’s time to comply
The positivity rate in the Covid patients is gradually increasing in other States and going by their graph, Telangana should make necessary arrangements to tackle the third wave, it said.
The High Court made it amply clear to the Advocate General to furnish a report complying with the orders issued on August 11 by the former Chief Justice Bench, with details about the present positivity rate in different districts of the State, proceedings of the expert committee, sero surveillance report, steps to curtail huge congregations and gatherings during the ensuing Ganesh festival to avoid further spread of virus. This order should be complied within a week and batch cases are adjourned to September 22, the bench said.