Reports of healthcare commission being shut down not true: CEO

The Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) on Tuesday strongly condemned actions taken by a team of the Anti-Corruption Establishment for “maligning” it and initiating baseless allegations of corruption against its officials.

The commission made it clear that the news of its being closed down after a recent visit of the ACE team was totally false.

“The SHCC is fully functional and media should have sought our point of view before releasing such news. The SHCC will take legal action against anti-corruption officials who had intentionally spread false news against it and damaged its reputation,” SHCC Chief Executive Officer Dr Minhaj Qidwai said while addressing a news conference at his office. He maintained that the SHCC was an organisation mandated to bring about improvement in healthcare service delivery standards and eradicate all forms of quackery from Sindh.

He said that in recent past, an SHCC inspection team paid a visit to a private hospital as a routine procedure, found expired items and sealed a unit of hospital over poor infection prevention and control.

“Following this, some resourceful and influential people approached me for the de-sealing of the unit and gave the deadline of last Tuesday. I informed them that without following the due SOP, de-sealing is not possible. I also informed the SHCC chairperson and she instructed me to deal with this matter legally and give no favour in this regard,” Dr Qidwai said.

On October 10, he said, an ACE team paid a surprise visit to the SHCC office and summoned one member of the inspection team who was not present in the office during the team’s visit.

The ACE team members called the same inspection team member. Later, due to te absence of the required people, a notice was handed over to the SHCC office. The anti-corruption team was alleged to have forcibly tried to take the sealed material away from thre SHCC’s office but their attempt was foiled.

The anti-corruption officials exchanged harsh words with officers of the Directorate of Licensing during the visit. Afterwards, the ACE team released a video of the SHCC office and news to media without taking Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho into confidence. She immediately took cognizance of the issue and termed the act of the anti-corruption team irresponsible.

“The SHCC appreciates the support of Health Minister Sindh Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho in this regard and has requested her to resolve this issue arising from baseless allegations against SHCC officials from Anti-Corruption Enforcement officials,” Dr Qidwai said and added that they also appreciated the support of media and other organisations for their endeavors.

Such harassment of SHCC staff by the ACE, a sister organisation of Sindh, was condemnable, and it would not break the resolve of team members of the commission to continue its drive against quacks and towards quality improvement of healthcare establishments in the province, he added.