KARACHI, March 13: Sindh Health Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad has said that an ordinance meant to regulate the business of hospitals in the private sector will be promulgated soon.
He was talking to newsmen after attending a presentation about universal health insurance coverage for the inhabitants of Sindh, which was held in his office on Tuesday.
The minister said that there was a dire need to have some legal provisions in the case of private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres in the province as complaints about their unethical and unsafe operations were on the rise, but the government was not in a position to initiate legal action against defaulters in the absence of relevant laws.
“My office receives complaints against private hospitals almost every day but I cannot order any inquiry,” he said, adding that the final draft ordinance to regulate and accredit private healthcare facilities was with the Sindh governor and promulgation was expected any moment.
Coming to the introduction of the social health insurance scheme in Sindh, the minister said the government felt that such an insurance coverage would help provide better health facilities to the people of the province.
He said that an insurance coverage policy was already in place for the Sindh Secretariat employees, while the other employees of the government, which numbered around 0.45 million, also needed similar coverage.
He said the government would not charge insurance fee from the employees and the masses, but would contribute on their behalf to the insurance company. It is understood that the Sindh government will spend some amount additional to what it is already paying for medical allowances and reimbursement of medical bills, he said and added that a lot of money was available with the Zakat Funds, Baitul Ma'al, besides the funds coming in from international development banks.
Though a lot of relevant working for the introduction and implementation of the insurance coverage was to be undertaken, “I think the government could start with some sort of pilot projects, focussing largely on rural area inhabitants”.
The presentation meeting was attended by the secretaries of various government department, former health minister Dr S. M. Rub, and the chairman of the sub-committee on health insurance, Abdul Karim Lodhi.
A team of the insurance company, which is already running a social health insurance coverage pilot project in the NWFP, maintained that in the first phase of the programme a pilot project could be introduced for Sindh employees for 3-5 years period.
The consultant of the insurance firm, Dr Bernd Appelt, however, indicated that some statutory sickness fund would also be needed to be established for even availability of insurance funds, in addition to having mandatory accreditation of health providers in the public and the private sector and legal framework for hospital management.
The insurance coverage will be aimed at providing good quality health-care to employees and their dependents without making them to pay some thing additional, while on the other hand government would also need not to pay additional amount for specialised hospitals.
It was further said that the social health coverage scheme will ensure flow of additional money to government teaching hospitals, improved health services for employees. At present Sindh government is spending three million rupees for social health insurance cover for about 27,000 Sindh secretariat employees and their dependents.
