CJP takes notice of public hospitals’ condition in city

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday took suo motu notice of the prevalent conditions at government hospitals across Karachi, ordering reports from the relevant departments, with the direction to every medical superintendent to appear in court with detailed reports on the availability of all medical facilities at the health facilities.

CJP Nisar directed the MSs to file detailed reports about equipment and emergency machinery, i.e. ventilators, oxygen tanks, incubators, operation theatre facilities, angiography machines, CT scanners, MRI ambulances, etc.

He also directed them to explain the situation as regards availability of life-saving drugs and medicines being provided to patients free of charge as well as medicines required to be purchased from the market. Moreover, the chief justice sought the details concerning availability of qualified doctors and nursing staff required, directing all the MSs of public hospitals to be present in court in person, along with the detailed reports on the conditions of their respective health facilities.

Private medical colleges

CJP Nisar took notice of the criteria for admissions at private medical colleges across Sindh and called for reports from the relevant authorities, including CEOs and owners of the colleges in Karachi, with notices for them to appear before the Supreme Court’s city registry in person on January 13.

Hindu girl’s abduction

The Sindh High Court (SHC) chief justice took notice of the kidnapping of a Hindu girl from Mirpur Mathelo city of Ghotki district and directed the Sukkur DIG and the Ghotki SSP to submit a progress report as regards the attempts made for the girl’s rescue.

Taking notice of news reports on Pooja’s kidnapping and the police’s failure to rescue her, CJ Ahmed Ali M Sheikh directed the Ghotki district & sessions judge, the Sukkur DIG and the Ghotki SSP to submit their reports by January 11.

Hindu traders’ murders

CJ Sheikh took notice of the murders of two Hindu grain traders in Mithi city of Tharparkar district and the police’s failure to arrest their killers.

According to media reports, brothers Dileep Kumar and Chandar Maheshwari were killed by dacoits on January 5, and due to non-arrest of the culprits the city was closed as a sign of protest.

Sheikh directed the Tharparkar sessions judge at Mithi, the Mirpurkhas DIG and the Mithi SSP to appear in court on January 10 and submit a progress report as regards the attempts made for the killers’ arrests.  

Schools’ boundary walls

The chief justice directed the secretary and the superintending engineer of the education department to submit a progress report as regards the construction of a boundary wall around the Government Girls High School Mirwah Gorchani as well as the government primary school at Bacho Khan Chachar village near Kashmore.

He directed the Mirpurkhas sessions judge to visit the Mirwah Gorchani school, inspect if the construction work of the boundary wall had been started and submit a report within 10 days.

He observed that if the construction work was not started within a week, orders would be issued against the superintending engineer and others responsible for non-compliance with the court’s directions.  

CJ’s address at SBC

The chief justice told the Sindh Bar Council’s (SBC) members that influential people had encroached upon several schools and hospitals of the province and were using them as cattle pens.

CJ Sheikh was at the inauguration of the SBC office at the SHC’s old annexe. He said that providing basic facilities to hospitals was the responsibility of the provincial government. He asked lawyers to approach courts for public interest litigation if medical facilities or medicines were not available at hospitals.

He said the SHC had taken notice of lack of facilities at public hospitals and now crackdowns had been conducted on the health facilities due to the court’s intervention. He also said that steps were being taken to resolve the problems of under-trial prisoners, claiming that half of the pending appeals had been decided by the courts.