LAHORE: The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) seems to be irked by the ‘undue interference’ of Punjab caretaker minister for primary and secondary healthcare department Dr Jamal Nasir in the PHC affairs as he barred the commission from sealing the private laboratories and the hospitals even over serious irregularities.

The PHC officers expressed their displeasure hours after a chief executive officers (CEOs) conference where the health minister snubbed the commission for sealing the premises of some private hospitals and laboratories.

A senior PHC official declared the caretaker health minister’s decision as “undue interference” in the affairs of an independent institution.

Seeking anonymity, he tells Dawn that the PHC was set up to ensure quality healthcare service delivery at all levels and to protect the well-being of the patients, by promulgating the PHC Act, 2010.

He says the commission is being run by a high-powered board of commissioners, comprising qualified professionals from the field of medicine, law, public administration and education.

He said the PHC used to seal the labs and public as well as private health facilities, following due process over serious violations, including maladministration and malpractices.

The official says no individual has the right to slap a ban on PHC action or issue it directions to change its policies, without approval from its board of commissioners.

He says it will be an unnecessary interference in the PHC matters and a challenge to its the autonomy.

He adds that the health minister’s direction may also create doubts over all the previous action taken by the commission including sealing of the labs and healthcare facilities.

In the past, the PHC had sealed operation theatres of different major public sector teaching hospitals of Lahore for violating the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines.

In the last October, he says, the commission had sealed three operation theatres and banned the admission of patients to a private hospital for carrying out a flawed procedure, resulting in death of a patient.

The official says a PHC investigation team had visited the facility and found that it lacked an emergency setup, an intensive care unit (ICU) and arrangements for referring patients.

Similarly, the record relating to compliance with infection control protocols and plans was found deficient.

Moreover, no documentary evidence of 24-hour medical coverage and waste disposal was available, he said, adding that the PHC had faced a tremendous external pressure for relaxing the punishment handed down to the facility, but it refused to budge.

He says the private healthcare establishments have been showing annoyance over the commission’s strict policies for protection of the patients’ rights.

The official laments that the the minister’s directions will encourage the private laboratories and healthcare establishments committing serious violations of SOPs while handling the patients.

About the minister’s directions, a spokesperson for the health department says Dr Nasir issued these directions at the 13th CEOs Health Conference held at a local hotel, where Punjab primary and secondary healthcare department Secretary Mr Ali Jan and other senior officers were also present.

Dr Nasir only urged the PHC to serve notices on the laboratories before sealing them, in case of receipt of complaints, he adds.

He says the health minister has declared that the laboratories not following the SOPs developed by the commission, may be slapped fines, instead of being sealed.

He says Dr Nasir also directed the health department and the PHC to crack down on quacks in the province.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2023