PHC asks why aerial fumigation of affected areas was stopped. PHOTO: FILE
The court directed the chairman of the K-P Healthcare Commission to appear before the court at the next hearing of the case to explain steps taken by the government to control the outbreak.
The PHC also directed health officials to hold meetings with officials of private hospitals and laboratories and to affix a nominal fee for treating dengue patients so that private hospitals and laboratories may not exploit the situation for profit.
A two-member bench of the PHC comprising Justice Waqar Seth and Justice Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan on Wednesday resumed hearing of a writ petition filed by Advocate Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel against the K-P government for failing to prevent and control the dengue outbreak.
Justice Seth noted that in the past, the government used to spray chemicals from aeroplanes, and asked the Health additional director why the government could not repeat the same process now.
In this regard, the judge directed the government to provide documents on why the government had stopped the aerial spray.
Kakakhel also directed the court’s attention towards the high fees which private hospitals and laboratories were charging from dengue patients.
He argued that private hospitals and medical colleges had registered with the government after agreeing to provide free health facilities in the event of an epidemic.
Despite that agreement, the lawyer told the court that as the province - and the provincial capital in particular - reels from the dengue outbreak, these private hospitals were charging very exorbitant fees from patients.
Representatives of private laboratories and hospitals, who had been summoned by the court at the last hearing of the case, were asked what they can do for providing free healthcare facilities to those affected by dengue.
The representative for Shaukat Khanum Laboratories told the court that they charged only Rs80 from dengue patients in Punjab when the disease spread there.
The court subsequently directed the provincial government to hold parleys with the private hospitals and laborites officials and fix a nominal fee for tests and other health facilities for dengue patients.
The PHC also expressed its displeasure over the performance of K-P government after the court was told that dengue testing machines were not working at the Khyber Teaching Hospital and that patients there were being referred to private hospitals such as the Rehman Medical Institute and North West where patients were being asked to shell out as much as Rs11,000.
The court adjourned the case to October 5, but not before directing the chairman of the healthcare commission to appear before the court and to detail the steps taken to counter the dengue epidemic.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2017.
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