CJP visits Lahore psychiatric hospital over complaints of mismanagement

LAHORE: The chief justice of Pakistan surveyed a psychiatric hospital in the city Saturday after he received complaints of mismanagement at the facility.

During his survey, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar checked various wards of the hospital, seeking replies from the health department over negligence in services.

The hospital visit was planned over the case of a woman reportedly with mental disabilities, who was on a death row.

While hearing the case, the chief justice said the woman seemed to be someone with mental disabilities. Therefore, he ordered she be shifted to the psychiatric facility from prison.

He ordered that doctors at the psychiatric hospital examine the woman and find out what disabilities she had. He also asked for update on the hospital’s condition, remarking that he often received complaints of mismanagement there.

The chief justice also visited the hospital’s kitchen during his survey on Saturday, where he expressed reservations over the hygiene condition. The attendant of a patient told Justice Nisar that the hospital was cleaner than it usually was because of his visit.

A woman present at the psychiatric hospital told the chief justice there was also a shortage of medicines at the facility. Over this, an explanation was sought from Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique.

The chief justice also surveyed pharmacy of the hospitals where he sought details from the incharge.

At one of the wards, a doctor met the chief justice to tell him about her son who was missing for the past eight years. She told him her son was missing since a long time and the police was not cooperating with her to find him. The chief justice took notice of the matter and issued directives for action.

The chief justice was scheduled to go to Services Hospital and then to Supreme Court’s Lahore registry to hear cases.