KARACHI: The Supreme Court-mandated Judicial Commission on Water and Sanitation has directed the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) to test and report the quality of bottled drinking water being supplied to public hospitals in Sindh.
The commission’s head, Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim, during the hearing in Karachi on Thursday, directed the health department to cancel contracts of all private water companies that were not registered with the PSQCA.
“What is most shocking is that the health department has never cared for providing safe drinking water to the patients and those who visit the hospitals,” Justice (retd) Muslim observed.
Judicial commission summons owners of factories in Port Qasim Authority The commission head granted seven days to all the medical superintendents (MS) of government hospitals in Sindh to cancel contracts with companies that were supplying water to hospitals without being registered with the quality control authority.
The judicial commission has directed the PSQCA to collect samples of bottled water from government hospitals where private contractors and companies have been supplying water and analyse the water quality.
The authority has also been directed to take action against all bottled water companies that are operating without obtaining licence from the PSQCA.
The directives came following the disclosure that three unlicensed companies were supplying bottled water to Peoples Medical College Hospital in Shaheed Benazirabad.
The three brands – Peo Geo, Aqua Hayat and Siddique – were also found being sold in residential areas.
The PSQCA has sealed the companies before submitting a report to the commission.
Judicial commission wants proper disposal of filth taken out from nullahs Justice (retd) Muslim directed the hospital’s MS to cancel contracts with the private bottlers not registered with the PSQCA and award new contracts to only such companies that had obtained required licences.