SHC directs prison officials to provide medical care to UTP diagnosed with COVID-19

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the prison authorities to ensure the provision of all possible medical facilities to an undertrial COVID-19 patient suffering from asthma and chronic bronchitis.

The direction came on the bail application of Akbar Khan Minhas, an undertrial prisoner facing a corruption case before an accountability court in Karachi

The counsel for the applicant submitted that Minhas had been behind the bars since July 2017 in a National Accountability Bureau reference pertaining to alleged misappropriation of government land. The counsel submitted that the petitioner was 73 years old and besides being COVID-19 positive, he had been diagnosed with multiple ailments by the jail authorities.

The lawyer submitted that the Pakistan prison rules provided that the superintendent of a jail had to send a report of a seriously ill undertrial prisoner along with the medical report in order for the court to consider their release on bail.

The counsel submitted that the petitioner had been diagnosed with COVID-19 on May 21 along with hundreds of other prisoners in the Karachi Central Jail and his case was then referred to the home department by the inspector general of prisons after his medical report described that he was an asthmatic patient with a history of chronic bronchitis.

The lawyer sought bail of the applicant or his transfer to a private medical hospital for treatment, keeping in view his health condition. He said that the main accused and two co-accused had already been released on bail while Minhas continued to languish behind the bars.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Omar Sial, after hearing the arguments of the counsel, declined the request with regard to shifting of the prisoner to a private hospital for treatment and directed the jail authorities to ensure all possible medical assistance to the petitioner.