The Lahore High Court on Thursday again sought the list of government officials and state functionaries sent abroad from 1997 onwards for medical treatments on government expenditure and details of funds released per case by Punjab government. Justice Sh Azmat Saeed directed the chief and health secretary Punjab to submit the detailed report in the court before the next hearing.
The judge passed the order on petition filed by Prof Dr Sajjad Hussain challenging lavish funds released by the government from Grant-In-Aid for a select number of government officials for medical treatment abroad. Earlier, the court directed the respondents to submit the report/list of the beneficiaries of the foreign treatment on from national kitty but the report was not submitted on Thursday.
Instead, the law officer on behalf of the Punjab government told the court that there was no policy for sending state functionaries on foreign treatment if quality treatment facility of a certain disease is available in public hospitals of the country. However, the judge insisted for the list of those who were sent for the treatment in the last 14 years. The judge directed the respondents including Punjab government to show under which law such indulgence was shown.
He said that health department Punjab on March 27, 1997 through a notification had imposed a ban on government sponsored medical treatment abroad for civil servants or their families in the diseases which may be cured locally in the public sector hospitals. The petitioner said his daughter Dr Sara suffering from liver disorder and urgently needed live transplant abroad and on his application Special Medical Board of the health department Punjab approved Rs 5 million for her treatment abroad.
After approving the case, the medical board sent it to chief minister Punjab for sanctioning of funds but the CM approved only 2 million which was not sufficient for the treatment abroad. He said he spent Rs 47,44,750 on the transplant aboard from personal pocket while some blue eyed government servants, even retired ones, were being given up to Rs 7 million in one go for treatments of minor diseases, easily curable in local public hospitals.
Citing example of vivid discrimination, the petitioner said Jahanzeb Burke, advisor to chief minister and retired inspector general of Police had urinary problem and for him Rs 7 million was released on April 27, 2010 by chief minister Punjab with stroke of a pen for treatment abroad despite the fact that Sindh Institute of Urology/Transplant has state of art treatment facility for urology problems of all sort including transplant.
He also said the CM had released Rs 1 million for one Fawad Butt son of Khawaja Abdul Gafoor for foreign treatment on Sep 23, 2008. He said the record of the health department was silent on who this Fawad Butt or Abdul Gafoor was. Ijaz Farrukh, law officer of the health department admitted before the court that the notification issued on March 27, 1997 banned treatment foreign country if the facility was available in pubic hospital.
LHC seeks list of officials sent abroad for treatment
