‘Instead of sealing a hospital, streamline entire health care system’

The Sindh High Court (SHC) said on Thursday that sealing one hospital is not a solution, and that the entire health care system should be streamlined.

Hearing a petition seeking action against unlicensed health facilities in the province, the SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar had asked the health department what steps were taken by the Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) to implement the relevant laws.

After a health department official informed the court that the commission had sealed the Darul Sehat Hospital for their negligence that led to the death of nine-month-old Nashwa Ali, the bench rejected the step as a viable solution and sought streamlining the entire health care system.

The court directed the SHCC to submit a comprehensive report on the commission’s performance and actions taken against the non-compliant health facilities by May 9.

Petitioners Jaffer Raza and Asad Iftikhar had said in their petition that several patients had died due to negligence of private hospitals. They said that such frequent negligence showed that the issue was rampant and could only be blamed on weak laws and their weaker implementation.

They also said the apathy and callousness of medical practitioners and health facilities had contributed to the menace to the extent that there was hardly a citizen who was not directly or indirectly affected by negligence, as there was no proper system of checks and balances.

The petitioners said that even though the relevant act was promulgated in 2013, the SHCC was not working properly, adding that the law seemed far-fetched and fictitious, with no implementation.

They said omissions and lapses on the part of the SHCC had led to medical practitioners and hospitals enjoying unprecedented impunity and their grave negligence kept going unchecked and without any legal repercussions. They added that medical practitioners used medical jargon and terminology to misguide the public and to hide their own incompetence and negligence.

Referring to the SHCC’s Nashwa inquiry report, they said it was mindboggling to see that Darul Sehat was let off with just a nominal penalty despite the fact that 95 of their nurses were found to be unregistered and unqualified.

They also said the commission was responsible for ensuring quality services at the hospitals registered with it and for taking action against those involved in negligence, but it had visited Darul Sehat only when it was forced to do so due to the unfortunate Nashwa case.

They claimed that the SHCC’s report showed how it protected hospitals and only made their staff the scapegoat. Citing the health ministry and health department, the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council and the SHCC as respondents, they requested the court to order implementation of all the relevant laws in letter and spirit.

They also requested ordering the government to carry out third-party evaluations of health facilities and to seal all the unlicensed establishments. The petitioners sought framing of SOPs in line with internationally recognised medical practices and WHO guidelines, and revoking of licenses of establishments found guilty of negligence.