Public healthL: ‘Why has cardiology institute in Wazirabad been stalled?’

Govt gets a week to respond to Tehreek-i-Insaf Punjab Lawyers’ wing’s plea

LAHORE: Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday sought a reply from the government on a petition against it for stalling the institute of cardiology in Wazirabad that was the brainchild of former chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

Justice Shah directed the government to file a reply on this account on June 7. Tehreek-i-Insaf Punjab Lawyers Wing vice president Gohar Nawaz Sindhu, the petitioner, said the construction of the institute had been completed. He said the institute’s emergency department had also functioned for a few months but the government had stopped releasing funds for the facility.

Sindhu said the government had not appointed any doctors or support staff for the institute. He said this had compelled Wazirabad residents suffering from cardiac ailments to travel to other cities for treatment. Sindhu said this exponentially increased the chance of mortality for cardiac patients from the region.

The petitioner said the government had deliberately stalled the project as it was conceived and executed in the tenure of Elahi. He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz did not want to credit the former government for establishing the institute. Sindhu said peoples’ lives had been left in limbo due to the government’s conduct. He asked the court to release funds for the facility and ensure that it quickly started functioning.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2015.