Governance High: Court ‘dismayed’ at health bureaucracy’s mind set

Committee set up to investigate deaths, report in 10 days.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Thursday expressed its serious dismay regarding the mind set of the health authorities after the health secretary stated that measles was a common disease in developing countries with a death rate of 2.5 to 3 per cent.

Secretary Hassan Iqbal, Director General Tanvir Ahmad and a counsel for the government appeared in the court of Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan in connection with the hearing of a petition agitating deaths by measles and the government’s failure to control the outbreak. The secretary submitted a written reply showing steps taken by the government following the onset of the outbreak in December 2012.

It said after the ‘successful’ mass vaccination in Lahore district, a campaign was to be launched in 18 high-risk districts from June 24, 2013. During this phase of the campaign, around 16 million children will vaccinated against measles, the report said. It added that the required vaccine and syringes worth Rs458 million had been obtained and would be distributed in the third week of June.



Justice Khan expressed serious disappointment at the lack of courage he said was evident in the health secretary’s report. The report read: “That the measles epidemics are not uncommon in the world especially in the developing countries with a death rate of 2.5-3 per cent. Every possible measure has been and is being taken to contain the disease and minimise the number of the deaths. This is evident from the fact that the death rate in the Punjab is 0.9 per cent.”

The judge remarked that the report showed that the government had conceded the deaths of children as ‘natural’. “To accept deaths due to measles on account of being a developing country does not make any justification,” Justice Khan observed and maintained that not a single child should die due to government’s negligence. The judge observed that a commission should be appointed to investigate the deaths and to fix responsibility.

The secretary, however, pointed said an inquiry had already been ordered under the supervision of the home secretary to ascertain the reasons of the outbreak and to fix responsibility.

Advocate Azhar Siddique, the petitioner, objected to the formation of the committee. He said bureaucrats could not do justice. He suggested that a retired judge of the high court should be part of the committee. Following the objections, the judge ordered that the health secretary and the KEMU vice chancellor be removed from the committee and the district coordination officer included. The judge directed the committee to submit within 10 days its report about reasons behind the deaths of children, efficacy of the vaccine and responsibility for the deaths. The judge remarked that the court will take the matter to its logical end and protect the innocent.

The next hearing is scheduled for June 25.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2013.