ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court directed on Friday the federal and provincial governments to submit replies on a petition seeking revival of free dialysis service for acute renal failure (ARF) patients, which was introduced by the last PML-N government but which is now available only in Punjab and two hospitals in Sindh.

The directive was issued by a two-judge bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal during the hearing of the petition moved by Advocate Tariq Asad in 2009. He has asked for an order to the federal government to restore the service in the entire country without any delay.

The petitioner, who himself pleaded his case, expressed surprise over the delay by the court in taking up “such an important case concerning public health”.

When he was reminded by the court that he could have filed an application for an early hearing, he retorted that he did not think that “humanitarian cases like this need filing of an application for urgent hearing”.

The petitioner has requested the court to order the federal government to arrange funds for the treatment of ARF patients from international organisations and also utilise its own resources available through Baitul Mal and Zakat funds.

He has also sought orders to set up a commission to investigate the reasons why the scheme, introduced by Nawaz Sharif during his second stint as prime minister, was terminated and what were the causes of its failure.

He has also sought punishment of the delinquents in accordance with the law if misappropriation of funds or inefficiency/lack of interest of officials concerned are discovered as the reasons for failure of the scheme.

During the proceedings, Additional Advocate General (AAG) of Sindh, Shafi Mohammad Chandio, told the court that free dialysis service was available at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation in Karachi and a medical sciences institute in Khairpur.

Petition calls for immediate restoration of the service

The AAG of Punjab, Razzaq A. Mirza, said the provincial government had allocated Rs540 million in the year 2007-08 to meet recurring expenditure for the provision of dialysis service at all healthcare facilities in the province, including district headquarters and tertiary level hospitals. The same amount was sanctioned in 2009-10.

The second government of Nawaz Sharif had introduced the Prime Minister’s Dialysis Programme in 1998 under which the facility of dialysis to ARF patients was provided free of cost by the federal government through Baitul Mal at selected centres as a life-saving intervention for the ailing.

Under the programme, which continued till 2000, coupons were issued to registered patients who were treated at designated dialysis centres in different cities of the country. The dialysis centres claimed re-imbursement of the cost from the budgets allocated by the federal government out of Baitul Mal funds.

After the military takeover of 1999, the scheme was substituted with the National Dialysis Treatment Scheme, but it did not last long and was eventually closed.

Later Shahbaz Sharif launched the scheme again as part of his initiative to provide healthcare facilities to people soon after becoming Punjab chief minister in 2008.

Mr Asad has argued in his petition that the right to life and liberty has been guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution through which an assurance has been given to the citizens that no one can be deprived of life. The right to life has a wider meaning, which has been explained in different judgments of the supreme courts of Pakistan and India.

He has cited a judgment of 1994 in which the apex court had held that the phrase ‘deprived of life’ should not refer only to the extreme case of death. Life in this context should mean to include all those aspects of life which go to make a man’s life meaningful, complete and worth living. “It consists ... a person’s legal and uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs and his body, his health and his reputation,” the verdict explained.

From this established law on the right to life, the petition argues, it is apparent that because of the government failure to provide basic human needs, like unpolluted water and food, and protect people from being exposed to hazards of polluted environment, ARF patients have suffered from this ailment and their right to life under Article 9 has been infringed upon.

Therefore, it contends, it is a legal obligation of the government to create and provide funds to honour the fundamental rights of the citizens.

Published in Dawn January 24th , 2015

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