PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Thursday directed provincial health department to take action against private health facilities charging excessive fee on account of conducting tests of suspected dengue patients.

The bench of Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar expressed annoyance over certain reports that private hospitals and laboratories had been charging exorbitant fee from patients while conducting their medical tests and directed the health department to submit a report in that regard.

The bench also ordered that the chief executive officer of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Care Commission should appear on next date and explain actions taken by the commission against such private laboratories and hospitals.

The bench was hearing writ petitions filed by advocates of high court, Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel and Shah Faisal Ilyas, requesting the court to direct the respondents including provincial government, secretary health, secretary local government and Peshawar deputy commissioner to take immediate steps for eradication of the dengue virus in Peshawar.

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They have requested the court to order the government to take both preventive and curative measures for curtailing dengue fever.

The petitions were filed in 2017 when most parts of Peshawar were affected by dengue fever and people in large number were admitted to different hospitals. The court few weeks ago resumed hearing in the cases when the disease again surfaced in different parts of the province including provincial capital.

An additional advocate general, Syed Sikander Hayat, and an official of health department informed the bench that so far 5,509 patients had been tested positive for dengue fever across the province and presently 179 patients had been admitted in different hospitals.

They said that so far no death had occurred in the province because of dengue fever.

Justice Qaiser Rasheed inquired whether Kohat was not part of the province as few days ago it was reported in media that a person had died of dengue there. The official said that it was not a factual reporting as the said person had not died of dengue.

The officials said that government had been conducting free medical tests of suspected dengue patients in government hospitals and had also been providing free treatment to such patients. They said that isolated wards were set up for such patients.

When the bench inquired about the rates of medical fee in private sector, Advocate Yasir Khattak said that he had been charged over Rs2,000 for dengue tests by a private laboratory. He said that different laboratories had been charging excessive fee in that regard without any check by the government.

The bench observed that patients could not be left at the mercy of private health facilities. It was ordered that strict action should be taken against all such laboratories, which had been fleecing the poor patients.

The bench during previous hearings had directed the provincial government including districts administrations and health department to increase fumigation in dengue virus-affected areas so that the disease could be curtailed.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2019