ISLAMABAD: After receiving complaints from the beneficiaries of Prime Minister’s National Health Programme (PMNHP), the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) has decided to make frequent snap visits to the panel hospitals.

One of the six hospitals in the federal capital has been temporarily stopped from providing services to the patients enrolled as members of the PMNHP.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif launched the programme on Dec 31, 2015, in Islamabad and described it as the first step towards making Pakistan a welfare state. The beneficiaries are families with a daily income of Rs200 or less.

Under the programme, a family gets Rs50,000 for the secondary care treatment which begins as soon as the patient is hospitalised. The treatment covers all diseases, including maternity.

Moreover, each family can also get a treatment of Rs250,000 under the category of priority diseases which include cancer, accident, burn injuries, diabetic complications, heart bypass surgery and infections.

An official of the Ministry of NHS, requesting not to be named, said there were around 70,000 families in the database of the programme for Islamabad. But the health cards have been issued to over 55,000 families.


Action has been taken following complaints from beneficiaries of the programme


“We have tried our best to contact the members but many of them have left the city and are not being traced. Moreover, those who have been traced are saying that they would collect the cards soon. A family which was once in Islamabad has now shifted to Narowal.

“When contacted a few days ago, the head of the family said he would collect the card whenever he visits Islamabad,” he said.

“The beneficiaries were from Sindh, Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and other areas of the country who were once in Islamabad and have now left the city. We are doing our best to trace them,” he said.

In reply to a question, the official said out of the over 55,000 cards, 30,000 were at least once swiped but the admission rate was 7pc to 8pc.

“When the scheme started, the admission rate was 14pc in early 2016. However, later it dropped to almost 8pc which is still satisfactory,” he said.

When asked what kind of complaints had been received from the patients, the official said a majority of them complained that they were not given medicines when they visited the outpatient departments (OPDs).

“We told them that medicine is given to patients when they are admitted to a hospital. However, we also received genuine complaints that some patients were not given Rs350 as a travel expense at the time of discharge from hospitals.”

The official added that one hospital was admitting patients for a fewer days and sending us bills for more days. There were also complaints about the operation theatres, hygiene conditions etc., at the hospital so we have suspended its membership temporarily,” he said.

The official said the membership of the hospital would be restored soon after getting an assurance from its management that it would not repeat the mistakes. “This will be a lesson for other hospitals to remain careful in the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister for NHS Saira Afzal Tarar started visiting the hospitals to ensure that the patients were getting quality treatment.

The minister on Friday visited the HBS and Nafees hospitals in the federal capital to witness the implementation of the programme.

Ms Tarar also spent time with the patients and families and inquired about the quality of care being provided to them.

Media coordinator for the ministry, Sajid Shah, told Dawn that it had been decided that the minister and senior officials of the ministry would visit the hospitals to ensure that quality services were provided to the patients.

“It has also been decided that the patients would also be visited at their homes after they discharged from the hospitals to know if they had any complaint,” he said.

When contacted, Dr Faisal Rifaq, the director of the PMNHP, said an efficient information system had been devised under which in case of any complaint the matter was taken up at different levels and the patient received calls from at least four departments to address their grievances.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2017

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