HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Sec­retary Mumtaz Ali Shah has said that Hyderabad city needs a better master plan therefore the government would revisit the existing one. He said that since it was an expanding city, Sindh government would make changes in its master plan to make it compatible with increasing requirement of civic amenities.

He was talking to reporters after appearing before Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad circuit bench in a case pertaining to anti-snakebite venom laboratory on Friday.

He said that Sindh government was trying to bring in competent people in the Hyderabad Develop­ment Authority (HDA) as well as the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) from among officers of two departments.

He said the Sindh government had tried to ensure availability of water up to the tail-end areas after a long time but since there had been an overall shortage in the system, people were facing the problem. He said that he was aware of the fact that protests were being held in Badin and Thatta districts over an acute water shortage.

He said that in line with the high court’s order, Sindh government would increase deployment of Rangers in shortage-hit areas to check water theft.

He said that he and the chief minister had spoken to the federal water and power minister and secretary about the issue of prolonged power breakdown in Hyderabad. They assured us that electricity supply would be restored and this was later done, he added.

Eventually, he said, the work for the drainage of rainwater was started.

In reply to a question, Chief Sec­re­tary Shah said that anti-snakebite venom and anti-rabies vaccine laboratory would hopefully be made functional by next year in line with the court’s order.

Acting Commissioner Abdul Wah­eed, Deputy Commissioner Aijaz Shah and other officials were also present.

Funds for lab will be released, court told

Earlier, in his statement before the bench CS Shah held out the assurance that the required funds would be released for the establishment of anti-snakebite venom and anti-rabies serology laboratory project in Sakrand, Shaheed Benazir­abad district.

He appeared before the bench, comprising Justice Salahuddin Pan­hwar and Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry in response to a court directive issued on July 31 after visiting the laboratory. Health Secretary Saeed Awan and Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women (PUMHS), Nawabshah vice chancellor also appeared before the bench.

CS Shah also assured the bench that the project would start producing the ASV and ARV vaccines by next year. He said the lab needed some equipment.

Justice Chaudhry observed that vials were ready in the lab as per the statement of the consultant concerned and they needed to be provided to Sindh government hospitals but an approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) was required. Justice Panhwar told the CS that it was a matter of pride that Sindh was taking lead in producing the ASV and ARV.

On a lighter note, Justice Pan­hwar added: “Hopefully, the laboratory is not like claim of an engineer that a car could be run using water instead of fuel”.

Dr Naeem Qureshi, consultant and project director of laboratory, interjected to say that the vaccine is produced at the National Institute of Health (NIH) but its technology was of 1954 and one being applied in this lab was far advanced. He said WHO did not accord its approval unless it got opinion from five world-renowned experts. Its clinical approval had been obtained from WHO, he added.

Tariq Shah, the counsel for petitioner Yaqoob Mangrio, said that funds under the head of revenue were not released for the laboratory despite the fact that monsoon was under way and deaths due to snakebite and dog bite had been reported. CS said he would make sure all funds were released in first quarter for revenue and capital heads of laboratory. He promised to help the lab seek approval from DRAP.

The court dropped contempt notices issued to the health secretary and PUMHS VC on a request by the Additional Advocate Gene­ral Allah Bachayo Soomro.

In his petition, Mr Mangrio submitted that the project was launched in 2006. According to him, the demand for the vaccine at national level is around 150,000 vials per year whereas the production capacity is below 25,000 vials annually. Resultantly, the vaccine is imported from India to meet the shortfall. Around 20 vials costing Rs40,000 to Rs60,000 are needed to treat a snakebite victim.

He said that the project in question was aimed at producing vaccine locally but the initiative was hit by delays due to irregular release of funds owing partly to government’s lethargy and partly to the interest tied with the import of vaccine. He said that the project was supposed to be completed by 2011 but had remained incomplete as yet. He informed the court that a memorandum of understanding in this regard had been signed by the health department and PUMHS.

During the previous hearing, the health secretary had submitted in court that he had proposed to the chief minister that the project be executed under the public-private partnership mode to overcome financial constraints.

The court observed that it failed to understand the termination of such a project when affordable and effective vaccine as per the WHO standards had been developed loca­lly and could be marketed as well. It was unconvinced by health secretary’s proposal as well as PUMHS VC’s statement that the project was a failure. The court had issued contempt notices to both respondents on the last date of hearing.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019