PTI lawmaker terms health care commission a failure

Expressing serious concerns over the spread of HIV/AIDS in the province, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Sidra Imran has said the Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) has miserably failed to perform its job.

In a statement released on Sunday, the PTI lawmaker said infectious diseases had been on the rise in Sindh but the provincial health minister was least concerned about it as he remained busy in leisure visits and tours.

She said as per a report of the Pakistan Health Research Council (PHRC), presently three million people in Sindh were suffering from hepatitis B and 5,320 others from Hepatitis C. The health department of Sindh had not only failed to provide them treatment facilities but also it could not even register those patients, she remarked, adding that despite the spending of Rs2.44 billion on the hepatitis programme, its net result was zero.

Imran alleged that the Sindh health department did not even have modern equipment for screening patients.

Terming the SHCC a failure, the PTI MPA said its performance was only on paper. She added that the commission had failed to improve conditions of both the government and private hospitals in Sindh where quacks were playing havoc with the lives of people.

She alleged that corrupt officials of the SHCC were getting bribes from quacks.

She said the recent report of the PHRC was an undeniable proof of failure of the Sindh health department. The health department was itself seriously ill and needed urgent treatment, she remarked.

The PTI MPA demanded an inquiry against the health minister for the failure of the health care commission. She said honest and able officials should be recruited and posted on merit in order to make the SHCC functional.

On Friday the SHCC had claimed that their Directorate of Complaint received four complaints this week and one of them was resolved. To date a total of 82 complaints have been received, of which 47 have been disposed of, 30 are in process and five are sub judice.

Moreover, the SHCC’s Directorate of Licensing & Accreditation received 311 new applications for registration this week, while certificates were issued to 150 health care establishments (HCEs), bringing the total number of registration certificates issued to 5,443.

The directorate issued 1,041 warnings to unregistered HCEs after June 30. This week 504 warnings were issued, while non-compliance could result in closing down of the HCEs.

The SHCC team also met with the director of Solid Waste Management and the inspector regarding improper waste disposal of different HCEs. It was suggested to the director to arrange a designated person with the SHCC inspection team to assess the waste disposal procedures employed by the HCEs and to take preventive actions and penalties in case of non-compliance.