15 January 2004	Thursday	22 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 14: The MMA-led government has failed to implement its notification issued three months ago to provide relief to patients visiting the private clinics of consultants.

The government had issued this notification on Oct 17 last year to the teaching and district headquarter hospitals (DHQs), asking the professors/consultants and district specialists to charge Rs250 and Rs150, respectively, as consultation fee from the patients instead of Rs300.

The notification, named as "Relief Package", was issued with a view to providing relief to the patients. However, the notification has so far gone unheeded by the doctors, as they argue that it was impossible for them to reduce their fee. According to them they charge Rs300 from the patient as consultation fee, whereas the fee collected by their colleagues in Sindh and Punjab was Rs1,000.

The doctors also say that they had not raised their fee for the last 10 years, even though inflation had registered a 500 per cent rise all these years. Interestingly, some of the consultants have been getting Rs500 as consultation fee from the government.

The government order states that the patients needing admission at the hospitals should not be charged at the clinics and be referred to the hospitals for admission. But consultants have been receiving fee from patients who are sent to the hospitals from clinics.

"If we examine anyone, who comes to our clinic, he/she is required to pay the consultation fee. Poor and deserving patients should visit the hospital in morning shifts to be seen over an OPD chit of Rs5," said a consultant. He said that "nobody can entertain free patients at the clinics."

The record from the three teaching hospitals of the city showed that a majority of the patients were being hospitalized after they visit the clinics of the doctors. The clinic prescription chit of the consultants is commonly referred to as "NOC" by the hospital staff.

"Anyone, who has the NOC of the consultants, is entitled to admission in their respective wards, whereas those without one, are given no attention even if they happen to be seriously ill," said a house officer at a city hospital.

The government's notification has also restrained the district specialists from seeing patients in the clinics located on the DHQs premises. But the practice is going on unabated, because the district specialists argue that they also serve the patients who are brought to the hospitals round-the-clock. Likewise, they are also reluctant to reduce the fee from Rs300 to Rs100.

"I am equally qualified, like the consultants in the teaching hospitals. Then, why should I charge lesser fee than those sitting in Peshawar," said a physician, who works at the DHQ, Mardan.

Another point, which still remains far from implemented, is that the consultants should charge Rs10,000 and Rs4,000 for major and minor surgeries at the private hospitals. More than three months after the notification, there has been no mechanism in place to ensure its implementation.

"All the surgeons, charge more than 10,000 for major operations, like thyroidectomy, cholecystectomy, prostatectomy, etc., which are performed under general anaesthesia, because these are time-consuming procedures," said a senior surgeon.