LARKANA: The Jacobabad district and sessions judge on Friday summoned civil surgeon of Jacobabad Civil Hospital and medical superintendents of taluka hospitals, Thull and Garhi Khairo, to court on May 15 and directed them to submit report on the absence of doctors and paramedical staff, lack of facilities and the hospitals’ refusal to provide quality drugs to patients.

The judge Abdul Ghafoor Kalhoro issued notices to the health officers after he learnt that poor patients were not being provided multinational companies’ drugs despite availability of the same at the hospitals’ stores.

He said that most of the doctors and paramedics remained absent from their duties at Thull and Garhi Khairo taluka hospitals. There was no woman medical officer at the hospitals to handle gynecological issues of women, he said in the letters.

In a letter addressed to the MS of Garhi Khairo taluka hospital, the judge impressed upon the MS that it was his duty to ensure provision of medical facilities to patients regardless of their social and financial status.

Patients complain of doctors’ absence, denial of available medicines and lack of essential facilities

He said in another letter to the civil surgeon of Jacobabad Civil Hospital that patients were not only denied multinational companies’ medicines but also X-ray and other costly tests as the machines installed at the hospital were found out of order.

The court asked the civil surgeon and MS’s of the two taluka hospitals to appear in person along with a detailed report on provision of medicines, punctuality of doctors and health of equipments installed at their facilities on May15. Failure to appear and submit report on the fixed date would result in legal action, he warned.

Administrator, mukhtiarkar and CMO also summoned

The judge, who is also chairperson of criminal coordination committee, asked in another letter to chief municipal officer, administrator and mukhtiarkar of Jacobabad to appear in court on May 27 and inform the court about the state of supply of drinking water to people through Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant and legal status of the piece of where the RO plant had installed.

It was brought into the notice of the court that the plot in question near Juria Chowk had been encroached upon by land-grabbers, who had stopped supply of drinking water to citizens through the RO plant constructed with millions of rupees. The plot was a public property, said the letter.

In the letter to the chief municipal officer, the judge said: “It is your responsibility and duty to ensure the plant’s protection, preservation as well as smooth supply of sweet drinking water regularly to citizens of Jacobabad”.

The court would specifically want to know if any action had been taken against the encroachers and the steps had been taken to supply sweet drinking water to citizens through the RO plant, said the letter.

The judge summoned mukhtiarkar (revenue) of Jacobabad taluka to the court and directed him to produce record in his possession so as to determine legal status of the plot of water supply and RO plant.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2023