HYDERABAD: Justice Faisal Arab of the Supreme Court of Pakistan visited DNA laboratory in Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) Jamshoro on Saturday to see whether the province had its own laboratory and how it was working.

Justice Arab`s visit followed an incident in which two children died after reportedly dining at an eatery in a posh area in Karachi, prompting the apex court to take its notice and directing the departments concerned to hnd outif such alaboratory existed in Sindh.

The judge was accompanied by Sindh Prosecutor General Ayaz Tunio, Sindh secretary of health Usman Chachar, director of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Dr Seemin Jamali, HyderabadCommissioner Abbas Baloch and other of ficials concerned.

LUMHS Vice Chancellor Dr Bikha Ram and Dr Ali Mohammad Warayah briefed Justice Arab about the state of af f airs at the laboratory and informed him that the university needed Rs1.2 billion to set up an independent laboratory that could handle all 13 specialties of forensic science besides DNA, including toxicology, chemical examinations, histopathology etc.

The judge was informed that DNA tests were being conducted in the laboratory and the facility working under Forensic Science Department could be upgraded if the Sindh government released funds for it. Justice Arab was told that it was the only DNA laboratory working in the province.

Dr Ram told journalists af ter the judge`s visit that Supreme Court was concerned about lack of a DNAlaboratory in Sindh in the wake of alleged food poisoning incident.

Forensic science dealt with 13 specialties but the university`s laboratory was only carrying out DNA tests and that too only to assist judiciary and law enforcement agencies after it was notified as such by the Sindh government, he said.

He said that Sindh government was planning to establish two forensic laboratories, one to cater to the needs of Karachi and the other for the rest of Sindh. LUMHS`s laboratory could be upgraded to take care of growing cases of forensic nature being reported from various parts of Sindh other than Karachi.

He maintained that a similar laboratory was to be established in Karachi University for which funds had been provided around eight months ago. If the Sindh government released Rs200 million to LUMHS the laboratory, which hadbeen working since 2015, could be upgraded to be able to conduct tests like toxicology, chemical examination, food poisoning etc. Rs800m would be needed for an independent building where all the facilities including medico-legal examinations could be made available, he said.

He said that he told the judge that post-mortem could also be conducted at the laboratory but it required more funds which the university lacked at present. The university deliberately avoided publicising the laboratory to avoid workload and keep its work restricted only to handling requests from law enforcers and judiciary, he said.

In-charge of Forensic Science Department Dr Ali Mohammad Warayah and director of Medical Research Centre Dr Banafshah Manzoor Syed were also present during the judge`s visit.