Following Supreme Court directives: Commission decides crackdown on quacks in KP

PESHAWAR: Following the Supreme Court directives, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Healthcare Commission has decided to shut down the clinics of quacks in the province.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had ordered the Healthcare Commission to shut down clinics of all quacks within seven days.

The commission has called an emergency meeting under the presidentship of its Chief Executive Aazar Sardar, in which it decided to shut down clinics of quacks by all means. The meeting was attended by regional and senior inspectors of the commission. The commission's head directed the inspectors to shut down all the quacks' clinics even by use of force to meet the deadline given by the Supreme Court.

The CEO said that no-one would be spared in the operation against quacks as they would not be allowed to play with the lives of people. During the course of hearing, the chief justice told Aazar Sardar that it was his duty after the Supreme Court decision at the Lahore Registry to take a strict action and shut down clinics of all the quacks in the province.

In response to the chief justice's question regarding the number of quacks in the province, the KP Healthcare Commission head replied that there are 15,000 quacks. When asked what action was taken against fake doctors, he replied that 122 had been banned.

The Supreme Court set one-week deadline for the Healthcare Commission to take province-wide action against quacks. It made it clear that "no stay orders will be issued in this case." "If anyone wants a stay order, then they should come to the Supreme Court," the chief justice ordered.

Aazar Sardar informed the court that the Healthcare Commission was established in November 2016 and despite facing shortage of employees, with 16 staffers only, it had achieved a lot by registering double the number of private hospitals compared to the past. He assured that strict action would be taken against the quacks under the law as the survey being carried out has now been completed.