Public healthcare: CJP Nisar trashes PTI claims of improvement

Seeks report on disposal of hospital waste in two months, expresses ire over absence of health minister

ISLAMABAD: There is Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government in Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa for over five years, it claims implementing good governance in the province whereas patients don’t have access to medicines in public healthcare facilities, said the Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar on Monday.

Heading a three-judge bench hearing a suo-moto case of public hospitals in K-P, Chief Justice Nisar took exception of the state of patients in K-P’s mental hospital.

He deplored the inhuman condition provided to people suffering from mental ailments. “People don’t keep their livestock, their pet dogs and cats the way patients are kept in mental hospital of K-P,” he said.

Justice Nisar said the PTI people have been saying for years that they have made remarkable improvement in K-P’s public health sector, whereas they have done nothing to handle the hospital waste.

Justice Nisar also expressed displeasure over absence of the provincial health minister from the hearing. “The health minister never comes to court and instead sends secretary health.”

The bench gave K-P government two months to submit report on progress in disposal of hospital waste of public hospitals.

The top judge of country said that he saw expired medicines being given to patients in public healthcare facilities during his recent visits.

To this the health secretary replied that the department has taken corrective measures only after the visit of the chief justice of Pakistan.

All those medicines which were not available at that time, were now available to the patients, he said.

“I would visit in three to four days and see what improvement has been made”, CJ added.

Meanwhile, the provincial health secretary informed the bench that 4,000kg of medical waste is produced daily from the 63 public hospitals in K-P and machines can only dispose of 3,600kgs of waste.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that even now, 480kgs of medical waste is not disposed in K-P hospitals. To this the provincial health secretary said, “We will try our best to make sure the matter will be resolved by June next year.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2018.