Dusted and forgotten?: Govt asked to explain delays in enforcing 2005 health policy

Court issues notices to officials to explain the status of Sindh Health Policy.

KARACHI:

In 2005, the government had devised the much-awaited health policy to ensure millions of people get improved healthcare facilities with special focus on the rural parts of the province. Eight years on, the idea is buried under the dusty official files.

On Friday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notice to various government authorities to file their comments explaining the current status regarding the implementation of the Sindh Health Policy 2005.

The United Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a group campaigning for social rights, had taken the chief secretary and secretaries of the health, finance, law, Zakat and Ushr departments and the director-general of health to court over their failure to implement the much-awaited health policy.

Rana Faizul Hasan, a representative of the group, submitted that millions of people are facing great hardships in availing healthcare facilities at the government hospitals in Karachi and the rest of the province. "Upto 80 per cent of the medicines purchased at the hospitals are sold in the market," he claimed.

He recalled that in 2005, the government had devised a health policy with an aim to ensure the availability of doctors, paramedical staff and medical facilities at the state-run hospitals free of charge, particularly in far-flung rural areas. The respondent, he alleged, have failed to implement this policy after a lapse of many years despite the fact that this is their constitutional duty to do. The court was pleaded to order the respondents to implement the health policy 2005 at the earliest so that people could be provided with improved facilities of health at the state expenses.

Moreover, the court was urged to order the appointment and posting of adequate number of medical and paramedical staff at all the district health hospitals and dispensaries that should be restored.

The bench, after hearing initial arguments, issued notices to the respondents and the AG Sindh to file their comments by March 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2014.