KARACHI: In order to improve the coordination between the Sindh Police and the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC), Dr Minhaj Qidwai, CEO, SHCC, and Dr Ayaz Mustafa, Director, Anti-Quackery, held a meeting with the Additional IG, Sindh Police, Ghulam Nabi Memon, and his team of DIGs.
The CEO of the SHCC thanked the Sindh police for its cooperation in the anti-quackery campaign organized by the SHCC. He appreciated the role played by the police in supporting the SHCC in rendering its mandate. In the meeting, an overview of the SHCC was given, and issues related to the actions against registered Healthcare Establishments (HCEs) and providers were discussed.
The police were asked not to register an FIR against registered Healthcare Establishments (HCEs). In exceptional cases like law and order situations, the police will consult the SHCC before registering an FIR. It was concluded that a large team of police would review the SHCC Act and Regulation, which was handed over to them and will meet with the SHCC legal team for further clarification regarding the joint collaboration between the Sindh Police and the SHCC.
On the other hand, the Directorate of Clinical Governance & Training held a second meeting for reviewing laboratory standards. In the meeting, Dr Tariq Aziz, PPHI, Prof Aamir, DUHS, Dr Ghulam Fatima, Civil Hospital Karachi, Prof Naila Tariq, JPMC, Dr Saheen, DUHS, and Dr Farhan Essa were present.
The SHCC team comprised of the Director Clinical Governance and Training, the Deputy Director of Clinical Governance, and Dr Agha Umer Daraz, Medical Expert of the SHCC. In the meeting, it was decided to specify the categories of laboratories and to adopt the NIH guidelines for laboratory standards on a provincial level.
The Directorate of Clinical Governance & Training also held meetings with the Directors of the PPHI to decide about the upcoming training sessions for primary healthcare standards and clinical standards, which will be held by the SHCC in mid-August.
The Directorate of Licensing & Accreditation has received 157 new applications for registration in recent days. Till date, the total number of applications for registration has reached 8383. Certificates have been issued to 51 HCEs in this week bringing the total number of registration certificates issued to HCEs to 5582.
Recently, 92 warnings were issued to HCEs. So far, 1311 warnings have been issued to unregistered health facilities. The team also recently inspected the Tabba Heart Institute, Karachi.
The Directorate of Anti-Quackery, SHCC, has sealed 43 clinics as of late bringing the total number of sealed Healthcare Establishments (HCEs') across the Sindh province to 1867.
The Directorate of Complaint, SHCC, has received a total 90 complaints till date out of which 49 complaints are disposed of, 35 complaints are under process, while 6 are sub-judice.
