ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has directed the health secretaries of the federal and provincial governments to ensure test and treatment of cancer in all public hospitals.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, was hearing a suo moto on sale of cardiac stents at exorbitant price.

During the proceeding, the chief justice observed breast cancer is increasing in the country.

He said mammography and cancer treatment are not available in government hospitals. He directed the federal and the provincial governments to ensure privacy for the female patients, and also ensure that the expert team in the government hospitals include female doctors.

The court noted that majority of women do not have the resources to get cancer treatment from private hospitals.

The chief justice said that there is no arrangement to diagnose breast cancer at the initial stage, and only the wealthy women can have expensive treatment at private hospitals.

Justice Gulzar said that in Pakistan, women are 50 percent of the total population.

Major General (retd) Azhar Kiani submitted that the federal and the provincial governments have submitted reports regarding the price and standard of the stents. He said that modern technique is being used for injecting the stents.

Former chief justice Saqib Nisar in 2017 had taken suo moto notice of substandard stents fraud in the cardiac ward of Mayo Hospital, Lahore and other hospitals of the Punjab.

In 2018, he had formed a committee, headed by Chairman Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology Gen (retd) Azhar Kiani to find out the cost of operation carried out to install stents.

The governments were ordered to ensure the manufacturing of stents locally and provide adequate and inexpensive medical facilities to the general public. The case was adjourned for two weeks.

Meanwhile, the same bench, hearing the case regarding encroachments in Faisalabad, expressed annoyance over Faisalabad Commissioner for failing to share the master plan of the city.

The chief justice said there was little room for infrastructural improvement due to the neglect of authorities, adding the situation had been taken to a point where even building a gutter was not possible. He inquired from the Faisalabad commissioner about action taken by him to clear encroachments.

“Sir, give me some more time,” the commissioner requested, to which the chief justice responded: “You have been taking time all your life.” Justice Gulzar also admonished the commissioner for “not being able to make a map for four years”.

He said Google had made it easier to browse different locations with maps, as “drone-assisted aerial images show every house clearly”.

He also asked the commissioner whether he was solely relying on a private consultant to do the job.

Addressing the Director-General Faisalabad Development Authority (FDA), the CJP asked, “Do you have anything in mind?”

The chief justice said the current situation did not allow even making gutters and questioned whether the authorities expected the Japan International Cooperation Agency to do that job, as well.

The bench later sought details of parks and playgrounds in Faisalabad and ordered authorities to plant trees and provide facilities in abandoned government parks, and adjourned the hearing for a month.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021