In a critical time when dengue has created serious problems for people and all political forces should coordinate and unite, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) have chosen the warpath to gain political mileage on the dengue issue and have therefore created mistrust among people who are desperately seeking relief instead of a political brawl.
The PML-N-led Punjab government sealed two labs of the Shaukat Khanam Hospital which is being run by PTI Chairman Imran Khan to inflict political and financial damage to him. To this, Khan announced that the Punjab government would be dragged to court to settle the score. The PML-N government had raided all private labs which were found involved in charging over Rs 90 as test fee for detection of dengue.
Raids were conducted right after the CM had announced the low fee on Saturday and proper time to implement the instructions was not given to hospitals. PTI Secretary Information Omer Cheema told Pakistan Today that the party would go to the court against this injustice. “In order to hide its own criminal neglect and to extract political mileage out of a matter which is strictly human, the Punjab government has harassed functionaries of Shaukat Khanum Laboratory Collection Centers and has even arrested some of them,” he said.
He said this tyrant act was done despite the fact that Shaukat Khanam had reduced fee of the basic CBC test to Rs 80 against the government’s announced ceiling of Rs 90. He said this was a condemnable attempt, aimed at stopping the most acclaimed humanitarian organisation, nationally and internationally, from serving the poor of this country.
“The Shaukat Khanam funds are not spent on buying properties and building businesses in London, France and elsewhere in the world. They are, instead, meant for free treatment of people, thousands of whom have been cured of cancer,” he said. Khan, who is in London to launch his book “Pakistan: a personal history” in the UK, when contacted, condemned the act in strongest words and described it as the beginning of the end of a corrupt and anti-people leadership of PML-N.
He urged his party workers and functionaries to stay calm and to serve people in this hour of need. Punjab government spokesman Senator Pervaiz Rashid said Khan had announced to go to the court if action was taken against his laboratories for overcharging the dengue tests. He said Khan must go to the court and the Punjab government was ready to provide him services of the best lawyer at its own expense. However, he said Khan would not go to the court where he would be declared dishonest.
Rashid reminded Khan that there was also a court of the people where his claims of being pro-poor and people-friendly had been fully exposed. He said the Punjab government had fixed Rs 90 as fee for the dengue test in private hospitals and laboratories. He said Khan leveled baseless allegations against the Ittefaq Hospital and Sharif City Hospital as both had opened their doors for dengue patients. He said further that Khan should sympathise with the people instead of supporting the dengue mosquito.
PML-N, PTI wrangle on dengue issue
