PTI MNA calls SHCC ‘a failure’; claims ‘performance only visible on paper’

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA, Sidra Imran, expressed grave concern over the recent HIV/AIDS outbreak in the province further stating that the Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) has failed to perform its job.

In a recently released statement, the PTI lawmaker said that infectious diseases had been on the rise in the Sindh province since a while. The Sindh Health Minister, however, was least concerned about the situation, as he remained involved in leisure visits and tours.

As per a report of the Pakistan Health Research Council (PHRC), presently three million people in Sindh were suffering from Hepatitis B and 5320 others from Hepatitis C, she said. The Health Department of Sindh had not only failed to provide them treatment facilities, but it failed even to register those patients, she remarked. Despite the spending of Rs2.44 billion on the hepatitis program, its net result is zero, she added.

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 evident on paper. She added that the commission had failed to improve the conditions of both the government and private hospitals in Sindh where quacks were toying with the lives of the public.

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

Imran added that the recent report of the PHRC was undeniable proof of the 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 Sindh Health Care Commission. She said honest and able officials should be recruited and posted on merit in order to make the SHCC functional.

The SHCC had claimed that their Directorate of Complaint received four complaints a while back and one of them was resolved promptly. 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 5443.

The directorate issued 1041 warnings to unregistered HCEs after June 30. 2019. Recently, 504 warnings were issued, noting that non-compliance could result in the 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.