KARACHI: More than 41,500 cases are pending before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, it emerged on Monday.

According to the fortnightly report of the apex court, 592 cases were decided from Aug 16 to 31 whereas 721 new cases were instituted during this period and the total pending cases stood at 41,545 at the end of August.

On Aug 15, the pendency was at 41,416 and the principal seat of the apex court in Islamabad had decided 311 cases in two weeks, the Lahore registry disposed of 193 cases and 88 cases met the ends of justice at the Supreme Court Karachi registry while no case was decided at the Peshawar and Quetta registries during this period, the report said.

SHC seeks details of registered healthcare facilities

Similarly, the principal seat had received the highest numbers of cases 292, a total of 250 cases were filed at the Lahore registry, 116 at the Karachi registry, 45 cases at the Peshawar registry and 18 cases were instituted at the apex court Quetta registry during the same period, it added.

SHC seeks details about hospitals

The Sindh High Court asked the Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) to furnish a list of registered healthcare facilities in the province.

The two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar also directed the lawyer for the SHCC to come up with facts and figures about the clinical audit of hospitals as well as ensure the attendance of officials concerned to assist the court on Oct 1.

The bench was hearing a petition about the death of several patients, including nine-month-old Nashwa, due to alleged medical negligence on the part of private healthcare institutions.

The petitioners contended that there was a provision under Section 4(5) of Sindh Health Care Act, 2013 to conduct a third party evaluation through independent performance/clinical audit of hospitals in both public and private sectors, adding that the SHCC also has more wide ranging powers, including powers for conducting inquiries into malpractices and failures in the provisions of healthcare services.

However, they argued that despite the lapse of several years, the commission was not working properly and had the commission’s powers been put to use, the society would not have experienced the horrific incidents of medical malpractices which were happening at an ever-increasing rate.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2019