SHCC closing clinics on unfounded charges: PMA

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), said on Friday that the Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) was harassing doctors by sealing their clinics on unfounded charges of quackery.

The SHCC is a perpetual source of unrest and anxiety for the doctors of Sindh province, stated PMA Sindh President Dr Mirza Ali Azhar, PMA Karachi President Dr Sharif Hashmani, PMA Sindh Secretary General Dr Rafiqul Hassan Khokhar and PMA Karachi General Secretary Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro at a press conference.

"We warn that if the behaviour of SHCC does not change, we would challenge the unlawful activities of the SHCC in the court," Dr Azhar said.

Dr Hashmani said the PMA did not support strikes and closure of health facilities, "but in these circumstances, we would be helpless if enraged doctors take to the streets."

PMA leaders recalled that the SHCC was formed to register doctors and healthcare facilities, to act swiftly when there was a complaint of medical malpractice and to eradicate quackery.

As far as the registration of doctors is concerned, low-grade officials of the SHCC come to doctors, misbehave with them and seal their clinics for no valid reason, they said.

Regarding action against fake doctors, they said, SHCC is promoting quackery by registering a considerable number of homeopaths and herbalists, who are doing illegal allopathic practice with the connivance of SHCC officials on the alleged payment of protection money.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2021.