Basic necessities: Slum residents challenge demolition of 50-bed hospital

The petitioners claim the land had been earmarked for the sole purpose of establishing a hospital.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) will hear a petition against the closure of a 50-bed hospital in the Chanesar Goth slum area by the health authorities on January 28.

The petitioners, Jawaid Soomro and Zafar Iqbal, both residents of Chanesar Goth, had named the provincial finance secretary, health secretary, the additional district health officer, Jamshed town health officer and the Shaheed Usman Ghani General Hospital’s medical superintendent as respondents.

They informed the judges that the Shaheed Usman Ghani General Hospital is a 50-bed health facility, established with the sole purpose of providing better healthcare facilities to the poor residents of the vicinity. In the official documents, the land has solely been earmarked for the establishment of a hospital. The petitioners claimed, however, that the health department authorities have closed down the hospital and its land has been handed over to an NGO, which will be using the land as per its wishes.

According to them, the health facility was duly approved in the schedule of new expenditures, SNE-2010-11, hence, it is clear that all the legal formalities had been fulfilled. The petitioners pleaded the court order the cancellation of the letter on the closure of the hospital and further restrain the authorities from razing the facility.

On Friday, the petitioners’ lawyer, Chaudhry M Rasheed, moved a miscellaneous application, seeking early hearing of the matter. Entertaining the plea, the bench, headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, fixed January 28 for the hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2014.