Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday sought performance report of Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) by May 9, 2019 after the court was approached against the death of Nishwa and others due to negligence in hospitals.
A division bench of SHC headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar directed the head of commission to appear with its complete record of actions taken so far to ensure provision of adequate and proper healthcare facilities to people.
The SHC bench issued these directives in the petition filed against Darul Sehat Hospital incident as well as others for the loss of human lives due to untrained paramedic staff.
What the commission has been doing; what action did it take so far, head of the bench Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar questioned, hearing the petition.
Secretary Health was also ordered to apprise SHC bench of the performance of the commission since its inception as well as the hospitals it visited so far.
The court observed that sealing off one hospital was not a solution to the problem, but the whole system has to be fixed to resolve the issues when the petitioner prayed for sealing off Darul Sehat. The said hospital came to limelight after a minor girl Nishwa was administered wrong injection, which led to her death.
Petitioner Syed Asad Iftikhar moved the court against the commission (SHCC), alleging that its negligence is giving way to growth of unregistered hospitals and clinics in the province. He requested the court to direct the commission to furnish its complete record in the court. He also stated that complete monitoring of hospitals, clinics, laboratories and other medical facilities is the responsibility of the commission.
He also accused Darul Sehat Hospital of having 95 percent untrained paramedical staff, including nurses. He submitted that hospital has fined for only Rs 0.5 million for a big loss of expiry of a human life due to administering wrong injection.
Meanwhile, a division bench headed by Chief Justice SHC Ahmed Ali M Sheikh directed National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to furnish the details of amount the accused deposited in plea bargain in Sindh Worker Welfare Board corruption case.
The court also reserved the judgment on the bail pleas of the accused who had been charged by NAB with causing millions of rupees losses to the national exchequer in the purchase of land for developing a labour colony.
Accused Abdul Razzaq benefited from plea bargain, investigation officer told the court when Chief Justice inquired about the evidences in this case. The bench head asked how those people benefited who just decided to purchase the land for developing a colony and stated that evidences of NAB are not solid in this case.