Private hospital owners summoned over virus test fee.

PESHAWAR -- A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday summoned high-ups of leading private sector hospitals and laboratories asking them to provide information about fee they received for Covid-19 testing as well as treatment of patients suffering from the infectious disease.

The bench of Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar directed an additional advocate general, Syed Sikander Hayat Shah, to provide lists of relevant employees of major private hospitals and laboratories so that they could be issued notices to appear on June 30, next date of hearing of the case.

The bench took notice of the issue over different reports related to non-uniformity in fee charged by different hospitals for testing as well as treating Covid-19 patients.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by a resident of Kohat, Mohammadullah Khan, against alleged illegal kidney transplantation to his uncle Haji Habib Khan by a group including some doctors in return of a hefty amount of Rs2.55 million in 2018. The patient had died within two days of the illegal transplantation.

Officials reject reports about shortage of beds for Covid-19 patients

In the said case a director of Health Care Commission, Syed Walayat Shah, and AAG Syed Siaknder Hayat had appeared.

The bench told the HCC director that they had seen reports that in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, ventilators in public sector hospitals had been operated by untrained persons and even in ICUs the staffers were not properly trained that resulted in deaths of patients.

The director denied the reports and stated that properly trained staff was operating ventilators.

The AAG and the director said that presently there were around 500 ventilators...