The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday sought a reply from the provincial government and health secretary regarding deaths due to shortage of anti-measles vaccine and adjourned the hearing till May 29.
The LHC bench had resumed the hearing of the petition regarding deaths due to mismanagement, medicines shortage and provision of substandard anti-measles vaccine which resulted in deaths.
The petitioner’s lawyers took the stance that government hospitals were still not providing proper treatment to children suffering from measles and there was an acute vaccine shortage in the market. They also claimed that the vaccine available was substandard which explained the rising death toll across the province.
Medical superintendents of Jinnah, Services and Mayo Hospitals also appeared in the court with a report that claimed that parents of most of the measles affected children avoided medical treatment and resorted to quacks, which intensified the problem. The report said that if the patients were shifted to hospitals in time after measles detection, the mortality rate could be lowered.
The court expressed dissatisfaction over the report and said that the Health Department seemed to be dysfunctional, adding that if the vaccine was proven to be substandard then all ministers and advisors involved would be jailed.