Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday directed the advocates general of all provinces to collect details from chief executives of government hospitals of laboratories, medical equipment and operational issues.

The court sought a report from the federal capital on the rates of refill of oxygen and nitrogen gas kits. “We will direct the law officers on behalf of the federation to provide us data about charges of refilling oxygen and nitrogen gas kits from 2013 to date and difference in prices at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and private hospitals,” the judge said.

The ruling was made when a two-member bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan heard a suo motu case pertaining to corruption at the Polyclinic hospital. The court directed the law officers of all provinces and the federal capital to submit data of lifesaving drugs at government hospitals.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali had taken suo motu notice on the application of Dr Umar Lodhi to the Human Rights Cell of the Supreme Court. During the hearing, Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi, counsel for Polyclinic Executive Director Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Naru, said that his client was not the executive director of the hospital when the issue came to light. He said that all appeals filed in the instant matter against his client were mala fide. He said that Naru and his wife were partners in a company called Crescent Traders, an equipment supplier, and the hospital had been buying equipment from this company for the last five years.

On this occasion, Pakistan Medical Association representative Dr Muhammad Arshad said that PIMS was buying an oxygen cylinder for Rs 7,500, Polyclinic was buying the cylinder for Rs 27,000 and private hospitals were buying the same cylinder for Rs 4,000. He said that Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Rules were violated in purchase of these gas kits. “It is surprising that the contract for the purchase of these kits and refill of oxygen and nitrogen cylinders was approved for three years,” said the PMA representative.

The counsel for the Capital Administration and Development Division told the court that an enquiry committee had been set up to investigate the matter.

Justice Tariq Pervez, the second member of the bench, said that issue would not be resolved through committees. He said that most senior doctors of public hospitals resigned when the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government slammed a ban on their private practice. He said that doctors were not concerned about people’s problems; they just cared for their private practice.

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan said that ordinary people could not afford costly hospitals and public hospitals like Polyclinic were not delivering. “Doctors are supposed to serve the humanity, but they have become money-making machines. There are pharmacies at all hospitals, but they are not delivering. We are not supposed to make such observations, but we have experienced it,” the judge said. He observed that each district headquarters hospital (DHQ) was equipped with latest labs, but unfortunately they were not functioning. As a result, he said, poor patients would have to pay thousands of rupees to private laboratories for tests. He said that doctors at tehsil headquarters hospitals would refer patient to district headquarters hospitals without diagnosing their diseases.