SHC seeks CAA’s reply to plea seeking medical facilities at airports

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday issued notices to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and others on a petition seeking medical and first aid facilities at all the airports of the country.

Petitioner Syed Mohammad Zafar submitted that his brother Tariq Zafar died at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi in January this year due to non-availability of first aid and basic medical facilities.

The petitioner’s counsel Mehmood Mandiwalla informed the SHC that the CAA had not taken proper measures to deal with any emergency at the airports as medical facilities and first aid were not available there.

The lawyer sought the court’s direction to the CAA to make fully equipped first aid centres, including cardiac resuscitation stations and automated external defibrillators, available at all the airports.

He also sought action against CAA officials for their failure to provide medical facilities to the passengers. A division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, observed that points raised in the petition required consideration and directed the CAA and other respondents to file detailed comments with regard to the medical and first aid facilities at the airports. The court also directed the airport manager to depute some officer fully conversant with the facts of the case to attend the court.

HIV treatment

The SHC also issued notices to the chief secretary, the health secretary and others on a petition seeking the provision of medical facilities, including the screening facilities for HIV and hepatitis C, in the province.

Petitioner Aijaz Ahmed Jatoi filed a public interest petition with regard to providing healthcare and medical facilities to the citizens of the province. He submitted that hundreds of people who were living in the remote areas of the province were not being provided health facilities and hundreds of citizens, including children, were found infected with HIV in Larkana district.

A two-member SHC bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, observed that the government functionaries and health department officials should explain ways and means initiated for the patients of HIV and hepatitis C in the province.

The court directed the health department to file comments regarding what steps were being taken to provide proper medical facilities to the patients and whether a proper infrastructure was available in the province, including the remote areas, for the screening of HIV and hepatitis C and their treatment.

The Sindh High Court directed the provincial chief secretary, the health secretary and other respondents to file comments on the petition.