KARACHI: While expressing resentment over supply of contaminated water to a government hospital by unregistered firms, the Supreme Court-mandated commission on water and sanitation in Sindh on Thursday directed the director general of the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) to collect samples of water from all government hospitals in Sindh for analysis.

The head of the commission retried Justice Amir Hani Muslim asked the PSQCA chief Abdul Haleem to collect all the samples of bottled drinking water being supplied by contractors to the government-run hospitals of Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Badin, Thatta, Kotri and Jamshoro.

The commission also sought the details of contracts signed with medical facilities regarding supply of drinking water and owners of the companies supplying water to hospitals and asked the PSQCA official to file a report after analysing the water samples.

In the intervening period, it further ruled that if the companies were found unlicensed, action would be taken against them and also asked the health secretary to ensure that all the contracts of such firms not registered with PSQCA must be cancelled within seven days.

The commission warned that if compliance was not made within the stipulated period, medical superintendents of the hospitals concerned will also be exposed to legal action.

It also directed the Sindh chief secretary and provincial police officer to provide protection to PSQCA staff after its chief requested the commission that they needed the support of district administration for inspection of different places where fake companies were operating.

The PSQCA DG turned up on Thursday as he was summoned over supply of contaminated water to patients and others at Peoples Medical College Hospital in Shaheed Benazirabad and the commission had also sought explanation from him for allowing local companies to supply water without maintaining the standards required under the law.

The PSQCA chief informed the commission that M/s Tahoor mineral water, which was providing bottled water to the hospital in Shaheed Benazirabad, was given a license, but it was neither renewed nor any renewal sought.

The commission directed the PSQCA to seize the place of business of the company and asked its owner to destroy all the raw or otherwise drinking water bottles, adding that he could not run the business until getting a license after fulfilling required formalities.

The PSQCA said one of its officials had visited Peoples Medical College Hospital where medical officials informed him that water was being supplied through a contactor namely Sarfaraz and provided addresses of companies from where supply was made.

During the visit of factories, the regulatory authority said, it found that bottled drinking water was supplied by three companies Aab-e-Wahab Enterprises (brand name Peo Geo), Al-Mukhtar (brand name Acqua Hayat) and Siddique; all these firms were not registered with PSQCA and thus they were seized.

On the directive of the commission, Dr Ghulam Murtaza of Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) had collected 15 fresh samples of water from different wards of Peoples Medical College Hospital and informed the commission on Thursday that 11 samples were found unsafe due to presence of coliform bacteria beyond the WHO guideline.

Justice Muslim observed it was very alarming that unlicensed companies were providing water to hospitals, thus putting the life of patients at risk and added it was most shocking that health department has never cared for providing safe drinking water to the patients.

He directed the medical superintendent of the hospital to ensure that the contract of unregistered companies should be cancelled and only registered firms be allowed to provide water.

It may be recalled that PCRWR in its report, recently placed before the commission, said that 250 samples of water were collected from different government hospitals across the province and 213 samples were found unfit for human consumption due to physiochemical or microbiological contamination.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2018