RAWALPINDI - Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar expressed displeasures over medical facilities available in the country, saying the rich got adequate care while the poor and needy were running from post to pillar for health services.

“The doctors in hospitals usually put off the poor and helpless patients from ventilators if any powerful or rich patient comes in the hospital and asks for the facility,” he lamented. He said that the state had failed in mitigating the maladies of the people in health sector.

The chief justice expressed these views while addressing as chief guest at Pakistan Stroke and Carotid Intervention Course held at Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology on Saturday.

On the occasion, CEO and veteran cardiologist at Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology Major Gen (r) Azhar Mehmood Kiyani, Dr Adnan Siddique, Medical Superintendent RIC Dr Shohaib Khan and other health experts were also present.

The CJP said that the poor patients in Pakistan did not have access to better health facilities while on the other hand the rich and influential were being cured in the hospitals on priority basis. “I have tried my best to play role to remove this inequality,” the chief justice said.

He said that scores of hospitals were lacking basic facilities such as beds, wards and paramedical staff. “The state of many hospitals is such poor that three to four patients share a bed,” he said. He said that he took prompt action against the shortage of teaching staff and medical experts in the hospitals.

The chief justice further said that there was dire need to improve the state of hospitals and a lot of other things in the country. He said that it was the prime responsibility of the government and health ministry to provide funds for bringing betterment in health sector. “The judges have also advised the government repeatedly for improvement of hospitals,” he said.

Sharing his worst experience of visiting government hospitals in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the chief justice said, “I saw three people lying on a single bed and doctors were providing them treatment.”

He said that Pakistan also lacked facility of liver transplantation of children and the people have to travel to India for treatment of their loved ones. “Pakistan should have a liver transplant hospital. Providing missing medical facility is responsibility of the state,” he said.

The chief justice advised the government to appoint expert doctors as provincial health secretaries. He said that such officers should be appointed in government sectors who are aware of the issues. “The culture of favouritism should come to an end and all the processes should be done purely on merit,” the top judge said.

He said that Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute had been built by spending Rs22 million but it did not have basic facilities. The SC has issued guidelines for the machinery, medical equipments and medicines present in the teaching hospitals, he said, adding that it was the responsibility of the executive to implement the law in its true letter and spirit. He also shared the hardships he faced during medical treatment of his ailing mother in hospitals of Lahore. The CJP said that building state-of-the-art medical colleges had become need of time to bring changes in health sector.

Earlier, chief executive RIC Major Gen (r) Azhar Mehmood Kiyani, in a briefing to the CJP, said, “The RIC became the first cardiac centre in Pakistan to have performed emergency brain stroke intervention and reversing patient’s paralysis”.

He said that they continued to perform this procedure with excellent outcomes and that too free-of-cost to all non-affording patients.

He said that the stent would be placed in the brain to open the veins to avoid paralysis. “In Pakistan, we will soon start brain angioplasty and it will be started in Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology,” he said.

He said that they would provide medical treatment to the brain stroke patients and the training for the doctors for brain stroke would also be started soon. “The medical treatment for the patients suffering from brain stroke will be started within few hours of the attack. Now, the brain stroke will be curable,” he said.

At the end, the CO RIC presented souvenir to top judge of the country Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.