PESHAWAR, June 16: Staff members of the three teaching hospitals of Peshawar are yet to get their share from the so-called “user’s charges” despite its restoration by the government two months back, representatives of doctors and paramedics told Dawn. The government had abolished the share of doctors and paramedical staff through a notification issued on Oct 17, 2003. The decision had affected the income of staff, including pathologists, radiologists, laboratory assistants, in the government-run hospitals in the province.

However, following a series of meetings among doctors, paramedics and the administrations of public-sector hospitals, it came to the fore that the notification had adversely affected the diagnostic services at the three hospitals — Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) — where many X-ray units and other machines and equipment had gone out of order.

The paramedical association and representatives of doctors wrote letters and held meetings with officials of the health department, asking them to restore the share of staff from the users’ charges. They had argued that payments from this head were being made to doctors and paramedics since 1940.

Senior radiologists and pathologists had also written a letter to the provincial chief secretary, making a request for the restoration of their share. In view of this, the health department had constituted a committee last year headed by the dean of the Post-Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI), Prof Dr Arshad Javaid, to review the matter and submit recommendations. The members of the committee included chief executives of KTH, HMC and LRH and heads of their radiology and pathology departments.

The committee, in its report submitted to the health secretary in April last year, had recommended restoration of the shares of both paramedics and doctors. It had concluded that restoration of the share was important because its abolition had affected the performance of diagnostic units of hospitals. It had, however, recommended a revised formula for determining shares of government and doctors/paramedics in this account. Previously, the income under this head went to the government and the staff at a ratio of 60:40.

Under the recommended formula, the sources said, the cost of medical investigation was to be reimbursed to the government while the rest of the amount was to be shared by the government, doctors, paramedics and respective hospitals at a ratio of 40:40:15:05, respectively.

The committee had also recommended a decrease in depreciation charges in the government’s share in the evening shift to enable paramedics to draw a larger share. The committee had also recommended that the share from fees paid by patients admitted to private rooms should be extended to doctors and other subordinate staff.

Dr Arshad Javaid said that according to the committee’s report, paramedics were to get more benefit than doctors and the committee’s suggestions were most likely to be implemented.

He said that the health minister and the former secretary health had agreed on restoration of the staff’s share from the income of their respective hospitals.

In reply, the secretary health communicated to these hospitals that the notification was not meant to abolish the share of paramedics and it was only in respect of doctors.

However, the directors of finance of the hospitals sent letters to the secretary, seeking further clarification. They informed the secretary that the hospitals owed huge amounts in respect of the shares of paramedics and doctors and giving paramedics their share and ignoring doctors could create problems for them.

The government ultimately issued a notification on April 17 whereby it restored the share of doctors and paramedics from users’ charges. The staff members were supposed to be given share from October 2003, but the administrations of the teaching hospitals have been dragging their feet on the matter.