LHC summons Punjab health minister over not lifting hospitals' waste

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid over violating rules dealing with the lifting of provincial hospitals’ waste, ARY NEWS reported.

During a case pertaining to hospitals’ waste before the LHC judge Justice Mamoon Rasheed, the applicant said that failure from the authorities in picking up waste from the hospitals is a violation of rules.

To this, the LHC judge summoned the provincial health minister in order to respond as to how affairs are being run in the hospitals.

“The minister should respond as to why waste is not being disposed-off from the hospitals,” the judge remarked.

In October 2018, the Supreme Court directed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government to allocate specific sites for disposal of hazardous waste of public hospitals in the province.

A bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, gave this direction while hearing a suo-motu case regarding the disposal of hospital waste.

At the previous hearing, the chief justice had directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to conduct an inquiry into a contract awarded to a private company for the burning of waste of public hospitals in the city.

The court was informed that a private company was awarded a contract for disposal and burning of hospital waste.

It expressed concern over transparency of the award of the contract and decided to get it investigated.