7-day deadline to K-P: SC orders ban on fake doctors

K-P withdraws VIP security from 1,769 influential persons

PESHAWAR: The Supreme Court ordered authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to take swift and decisive action, barring all fake doctors and quacks within a week.

The order was issued by a three-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Atta Bandial and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, while hearing the case about fake doctors and quacks in the province.

The CJP observed that no court will be issuing a stay order if the businesses of quacks and fake doctors were shut down.

“If anyone sought a stay order, they must come to the Supreme Court. They are risking people’s lives, they cannot be shown any leniency,” the CJP said.

Grilling the chief executive of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Commission, he asked: “What is the number of quacks in your province?”

In response, the chief of the commission said: “At least 15,000.”

When the CJP asked how many of them had so far been closed down, the chief of the commission said that his organization had taken action against 122.

This infuriated the CJP, who said: “They (quacks and fake doctors) are putting people’s lives at risk but you have not taken action against them … This is your duty.”

The CJP asked him to explain, but the commission’s chief could not respond.

When the CJP asked the commission’s chief about his monthly salary, he said that he was drawing Rs500,000 a month.



“Such high salary and such a bad performance,” said Chief Justice Nisar.

Slamming the Healthcare Commission, he said that the body should be dissolved if it was not performing adequately.

He directed the CEO of the healthcare commission to comply with the court order and report back in a week.

The CJP also asked the chief secretary of the province, Azam Khan, about his salary.

Khan said that he was drawing Rs182,000 a month.

Appreciating his performance, he said that he was satisfied with his performance although he drew less than his subordinates.

Security of influential people

The K-P Inspector-General of Police Salahuddin Mehsud also appeared before the bench and submitted a compliance report on SC orders about withdrawing security personnel guarding influential people.

The IGP said that security personnel had been withdrawn from 1,769 influential persons in the province, adding that he had done this overnight.

According to the IGP, his department had already been working in this regard for the past three months and security cover to 900 people had been removed even before the court’s orders.

But some of them genuinely needed police protection and therefore he could not recall police personnel in such cases.

Appreciating the IGP’s performance, the bench said that he had done a good job.

Water quality

The chief justice also regretted the standard of water and milk being sold in the province.

The chief of K-P Halal Food and Food Safety argued that he had constituted teams to inspect all eateries, milk shops, and bottled water companies.

“So far, we have closed three non-compliant companies in Peshawar,” he said.

But this couldn’t satisfy the chief justice.

On the first day of the hearing, the CJP had ordered water samples test from Peshawar Judicial Complex.

All water samples were tested clean.

Disbelieving the results, the chief justice called up a team from Punjab to test water samples from various parts of the city and submit a report.