CHITRAL: The health department has failed to implement the terms of an agreement for management of three hospitals in Chitral which had been outsourced to Aga Khan Health Service Pakistan (AKHS-P) many years ago, as a result, patients are suffering instead of getting the promised relief.

As per the MoU (copy available with Dawn), the contract period of rural health centre, Mastuj, expired on Nov 2016, that of Garam Chashma on Dec 2017, and Shagram in August this year, but the AKHS-P is still running these health facilities.

The objective of the public-private partnership was to ensure availability of quality healthcare at the hospitals, including comprehensive obstetric and neonatal care services.

Under the MoU, management of hospitals was handed over to AKHS-P

The signatories of the MoU were department of health, the district government and AKHS-P.

A district health committee (DHC) was also formed consisting of the deputy commissioner, the district health officer, district officer finance, and general manager of AKHS and others.

Under the agreement, the management of the hospitals was handed over to AKHS-P.

The convening of the six-monthly meetings of DHC was the responsibility of district health officer, who along with GM AKHS was entrusted with preparing agenda, recording minutes and following up on implementation of the decisions, but not a single meeting was convened, said DHO Dr Iftikhar, who recently assumed charge of the office.

Similarly, it was mandatory at the end of each financial year (Dec 31) to conduct audit of hospitals by an independent firm of chartered accountants and submit the report to the DHC, but no record of audit report was available.

As per the MoU, the AKHS-P was to maintain clear, accurate and complete records in respect of the funds received, but it was also not fulfilled.

A source in the health department said the organisation was ‘saving’ a large sum of money every month by not filling some of the vacant posts in the three hospitals.

The manager (admin) of AKHS-P confirmed to Dawn that in each hospital, one post of doctor and dental surgeon was vacant whose monthly salary was up to Rs780,000.

On the complaint of residents of Garam Chashma, an inquiry was conducted in June 2016 by Dr Ibrahim Khan of the health department on the orders of the district nazim, which found many irregularities.

The inquiry (copy available with Dawn) said the OPD fee was as high as Rs150 which was then only Rs3 in the government hospitals.

It also revealed that free medicines provided by the government were sold by AKHS- P management in its pharmacy established inside the hospital.

Presenting a comparative statement of the fee of laboratories of AKHS-P and DHQ hospital as well as the private ones, the report showed that the rates were too high despite the fact the government provided budget for purchasing equipment, chemicals and other consumable items.

The report further revealed that no quarterly income and expenditure report, showing both the income and expenditure according to the MoU terms, had been submitted by AKHS-P over the last three years.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2018