15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 14: Private sector hospitals have agreed in principle to make all necessary arrangements with regard to the availability of medico-legal services and appointment of medico-legal officers to help the government in ensuring legal and medical support to victims of violence, criminal assault and accidents without any delay and complexity.

As a first major step in this regard, the administrators of leading hospitals in the city - Ziauddin University Hospital, Aga Khan University Hospital, Liaquat National Hospital, Darul Sehat and Steel Mills Hospital - in a meeting with the Adviser to the CM on Health, Faisal Malik, here on Friday discussed in detail the formalities for the provision of medico-legal services at their respective hospitals.

Mr Malik told them that necessary amendments would made to the Police Act for authorizing the identified hospitals to have medico-legal procedure and attend the relevant cases.

Dr Mohammad Asim, Dr Farhat Abbas, Dr Salman Faridi and Dr Ahmed Raza, representing their respective hospitals, made their submissions on strengthening the contribution of private sector to attending and providing medical assistance to emergency cases involving legal procedures nearest to the scene of such incidents or the home of a victim.

The meeting discussed provision of emergency medical aid and legal assistance at any of the five hospitals, in addition to the public sector hospitals, to a victim in precarious condition if he/she appeared not unable to bear the expenses of treatment at some other private health unit.

The meeting also took into consideration certain necessary measures to pre-empt corruption in medico-legal cases to ensure that no injustice was done to a victim of violence. It was pledged that the victims would be provided best possible treatment.

It was agreed that all private hospitals be classified into two/three categories but all of them would be bound to provide quality health care services to a patient with no or limited resources.

Mr Malik particularly reminded private health care institutions that public sector hospitals, despite all their constraints, were bearing the burden of the cases related to contingency, and had also to face the outburst of emotionally charged people following an untoward incident.

He noted with regret that a significant number of private health care centres, in spite having been availing maximum possible concession and relief from government in addition to philanthropic support, failed to deliver what they were supposed to in respect of the needy and downtrodden in distress.

Mr Faisal Malik, at a press briefing last month, had stated that a policy was being formulated under which medico-legal officers would undergo training in forensic medicine after which they will be posted in various hospitals, including those in privately sector.

Under the new policy, the MLOs would be transferred from one hospital to the other several times in a few years, he had also suggested. "It has been observed that some MLOs in a few hospitals, where they have been posted for the last 15 to 20 years, have created their monopolies and the new policy will do away with these monopolies.''

The minister had stated that the health authorities were ready to allow some private hospitals to open medico-legal sections and the new policy would have a big portion to deal with this issue.

"So, after the policy is implemented, the people who want the private hospital staff to perform autopsies on the bodies of their relatives would have this option." He had also criticized the sitting MLOs and said that many of them did not perform autopsies and other investigations themselves. "They rely on ward boys and even sweepers who perform these procedures." -APP