SHC censures local govt officials over lack of ARVs

DMC commissioners, health secretary, local govt secretary summoned at next hearing

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court expressed dissatisfaction on Wednesday over the replies of the provincial health secretary and the district municipal corporations (DMCs) over the provision of anti-rabies vaccines (ARVs) and issued a show-cause notice to the local government secretary for being absent from the hearing. The court summoned all DMC commissioners, the health secretary and the local government secretary on the next hearing of the petition pertaining to the non-availability of ARVs in Sindh government hospitals.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Agha Faisal heard the petition.

The additional secretary of the health department appeared before the court. The bench asked him why there were no vaccines in hospitals and what was happening in Sindh.

The health secretary told the court that there were 17,800 vaccines at various hospitals.

The bench remarked that vaccines would be provided if the Sindh government demands so why was the provincial government not demanding vaccines from the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad.

The bench sought the complete details of the availability of vaccines in hospitals. The court also asked why the local government secretary failed to appear for the hearing.

News is published daily regarding dog-bite cases, what is the government doing? remarked the bench, while noting that there were several dog-bite cases reported in the Central district of Karachi.

The counsel of Central district said that the issue was about the lack of vaccines in hospitals.

The bench observed that newspapers published about 23 people being bitten by dogs two days ago. The bench asked which department was responsible for the elimination of rabies according to the law.

The additional secretary informed the court that there were 770 vaccines available at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital and at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. The petitioner told the court that Rangers had killed dogs in Quaidabad. Rangers are now being summoned to kill dogs, remarked the bench. "If you can't even catch dogs then how can you construct roads and do municipal cleaning," said Justice Mazhar.

The counsel of Karachi Metropolitan Commissioner (KMC) said that the KMC had no budget to give salaries to its employees because the provincial government had stopped KMC's funds.

The bench said it would not accept any kind of excuse. Formulate a taskforce and continue work, directed the bench.

The court observed that according to the health department, there were only 17,837 vaccines in 295 hospitals. It expressed dissatisfaction over the replies of the health department and the DMCs and noted that the KMC and the DMCs were not fulfilling their responsibilities.

Justice Mazhar issued a show-cause notice to the local government secretary for his absence at the hearing.

The court directed the secretaries of the health and local government departments to appear at the next hearing with reports. It summoned the commissioners of all DMCs of Karachi, the Karachi municipal commissioner on October 22 and directed the additional advocate general to inform all parties that the court would issue arrest warrants if they failed to appear before it.

The court adjourned hearing till October 22.

Sentence annulled

Another two-member bench comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Khadim Hussain Tunio accepted the appeal filed by two convicts, Yasin Khan alias Haji and Faisal Khan, associated with a banned outfit. The court accepted their plea against the sentence awarded to them in a murder case and annulled the sentence. The court ordered the convicts release from prison.

According to police, an anti-terrorism court sentenced both criminals to death in 2015 when they were convicted of killing police officials who were on patrolling duty by firing in 2012 in the limits of Manghopir Police Station. Police claimed that the accused confessed to the murders after their arrest.

The prosecution failed to prove the confession and the deployment of the police officials on patrolling duty.

Verdict reserved

Meanwhile, a two-member bench headed by SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh and comprising Justice Omar Sial reserved the verdict on the case pertaining to Karachi Port Trust Cooperative Housing Society while hearing the bail pleas filed by former federal minister Kamran Michael and others.

The bench reserved its verdict after the completion of arguments by parties. According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Michael committed corruption through his frontmen by allotting 16 plots in the KPT Cooperative Housing Society at extremely low rates. He allegedly collected Rs110 million by allotting three commercial plots.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2019.