SUKKUR: Sindh High Court’s Suk­kur bench came down hard on the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC) for its insensitivity and inaction with regard to public health issues in the wake of the ongoing campaign against quacks lately ordered by the judiciary.

The bench comprising Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqi and Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput was on Thursday seized with several petitions filed by civil society activists against unauthorised elements who, according to them, were playing with the health and life of patients by running their businesses in the name of medical treatment.

SHCC chief executive officer Minhaj Huda appeared before the bench to explain the situation and apprise the court of progress of the campaign.

He earned the judges’ ire when he failed to give correct figures while answering a question as to how many clinics of quacks had been sealed since the judiciary ordered action against them.

Mr Huda said around 500 such clinics had been sealed in the province so far while the campaign was continuing.

The bench reacted angrily over Mr Huda’s statement saying that an official report already filed in the high court had put the number of such clinics sealed in Sukkur division alone at around 1,000.

The bench’s remarks made Mr Huda speechless but he contended that the SHCC ran short of funds and, therefore, could not be fully activated.

The fund crunch also did not enable the commission to take legal action against quacks, he added.

The bench further remarked that the Sindh government and its health care commission were in slumber while the lives of hundreds of thousands of people were at risk due to the free hand being enjoyed by quacks.

The bench also asked Mr Huda as to what action had been taken against the doctors who were facilitating quacks’ businesses.

He could not give a reply to the question.

“Why not the chief secretary be called here and asked whether the Sindh government is sincere or not in this matter?” the bench remarked.

Adjourning the matter for a week, the bench ordered registration of cases against quacks by then.

It also ordered cancellation of licences of those doctors who were acting as facilitators of quacks.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2019