close
Thursday March 28, 2024

SHCC seeks police help to crack down on quacks in Karachi

By M. Waqar Bhatti
August 03, 2019

The Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC) said on Friday it had sealed 43 clinics run by quacks this week in the province, bringing the number of sealed healthcare establishments (HCEs) to 1,867 so far, but sought the Karachi police’s help to eradicate the menace of quackery from the city, where thousands of quacks are openly operating without any fear of law.

In order to improve coordination between the Sindh police and the Sindh Healthcare Commission, Dr Minhaj Qidwai, CEO of the SHCC, and Dr Ayaz Mustafa, director anti-quackery, met Additional IGP Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon and his team of DIGs. The SHCC chief executive officer thanked the police for cooperation in the conducting the campaign against quackery. He appreciated the role played by police in supporting the SHCC in rendering its mandate, a spokesperson for the SHCC said on Friday.

In the meeting, an overview of the SHCC was given and issues related to actions against registered HCEs and providers were discussed. The police were asked not to register FIRs against registered healthcare establishments.

In special cases like a law and order situation, police would consult the SHCC before registering FIRs. It was also concluded that a large team of police would review the SHCC Act and regulations which were handed over to them and would meet the SHCC legal team for further clarification regarding collaboration between the Sindh police and the SHCC.

Lab standards

The Directorate of Clinical Governance & Training held a second meeting for a review of laboratory standards.

In the meeting, Dr Tariq Aziz of the PPHI, Prof M Aamir of the DUHS, Dr Ghulam Fatima of the Civil Hospital, Prof Naila Tariq of the JPMC, Dr Saheen of the DUHS and Dr Farhan Essa were present. The SHCC team comprised the director clinical governance and training, the deputy director clinical governance and Dr Agha Umer Daraz, medical expert.

In the meeting, it was decided to adopt NIH guidelines for laboratory standards on provincial level. The Directorate of Clinical Governance & Training also held a meeting with directors of the PPHI to decide about the upcoming training sessions for primary healthcare standards and clinical standards. The sessions will be held by the SHCC in mid-August.

The Directorate of Licensing & Accreditation, SHCC, received 157 new applications for registration this week. Till date, the total number of applications for registration reached 8,383.

Certificates were issued to 51 HCEs this week, bringing the number of registration certificates issued to 5,582 HCEs. During this week, 92 warning were issued. Till date 1,311 warnings were issued to unregistered HCEs. The team also conducted an inspection of Tabba Heart Institute, Karachi,.

The Directorate of Complaint has received till date 90 complaints out of which 49 have been disposed of, and 35 complaints are under process while six are sub judice.