ISLAMABAD: A bill proposing uniform fees for doctors and laboratories across the country could not be approved as the government contended that it was already working on the matter.

However, MNA Nikhat Shakeel Khan of the MQM, the mover of the ‘Medical Consultancy and Other Services (Rationalisation of Fees) Bill 2016’, said the government took such a stance whenever a bill of public interest was tabled in the house.

“I will wait for around six months and after that if the government fails to bring a similar bill I will table the bill again because it is of public importance,” Ms Khan told Dawn.

The bill was tabled in August last year and later referred to the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS).

The bill suggested fixing the consultation fee of doctors as some of them charged Rs2,500 and others Rs1,500.

Draft was rejected by NA body after govt said it was already working on similar lines

The bill stated that seeking medical consultations from private practitioners and availing of other services was becoming unaffordable for the citizens and that the fee doctors charged should be rationalised.

Though the bill was appreciated by members during the meetings of the committee, Minister for NHS Saira Afzal Tarar said the government was already working on the issue.

She said the proposals containing in Ms Khan’s bill would be incorporated in the government bill. As a result, the committee rejected the bill and sent it back to the National Assembly a couple of days ago.

The MQM lawmaker said the consultancy fee was being charged across the country on the reputation of hospitals, not on the basis of qualifications and experience of the doctors.

“One doctor charges Rs3,500 in a reputed hospital but the consultation fee of the same doctor in a small hospital is Rs1,500. I had suggested that the fee of doctors and laboratories should be fixed and their qualifications should be considered instead of names of the hospitals where they worked,” she said.

The bill also proposed that labs should be categorised for the fixation of their fees.

“It has become a routine that whenever a bill of public importance is tabled, the government says it would bring its own bill. Apparently, the government does not want to give credit of any good initiation to the opposition parties,” she said.

In September last year, Ms Tarar informed the Senate that after receiving complaints the government had decided to regulate the private practice of doctors.

She said a bill titled “Federal Health Regulatory Authority” was being drafted. However, during the question hour in the upper house, the minister said there was no federal law to regulate the private medical practice.

Patients usually complain that they are overcharged by doctors in private hospitals and clinics and even non-governmental organisations have been demanding that the private practice of doctors should be regulated.

The doctors also charge heavy fee for conducting operations but do not pay taxes because there is no mechanism to check their income.

According to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Ordinance 1962, doctors have to charge a fee according to the quality of the service they provide.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2017