MULTAN: When 55-year-old Muhammad Sarwar received a call from Sehat Sahulat Programme, his hope for treatment of his left eye that had been deprived of vision because of the cataract was rekindled, not knowing what actually awaited him.

A blacksmith by profession, the middle-aged man ran a small smithy on Sher Shah Road, Multan, and led a contented life with his family comprising his wife and five sons.

What worried him most was his cataract that first started affecting his left eye. It first blurred his vision and gradually rendered him blind in the affected eye. He knew the condition was curable, but didn’t have the resources to afford a surgery.

The Sehat Sahulat Programme (SSP) became his only hope as it promised free treatment to the deserving people like him.

The programme was first launched by the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and after 2018 when the party assumed charge in the Centre, it was replicated in Punjab.

As per the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company (PHIMC) web portal, the programme envisages covering 7.2 million families in 36 districts of Punjab, promising “the best healthcare facilities for free through empanelled hospitals across the country”. Its stated objective was to improve access of the poor population of the province to “good quality” medical services.

As the programme offers the selected patients a list of empanelled hospitals to choose from for getting the free treatment, Sarwar, like many others, picked Laeeq Rafiq Hospital, Multan, a private facility, for his cataract surgery.

Finally, on March 20, Sarwar and 15 other persons, including some women, were operated upon by a surgeon, Husnain Mushtaq, at the private hospital that proved a disaster and changed everything for him as he was rendered blind in the left eye.

“Though I am getting free medicines from the Nishtar Hospital [Multan], that has almost cured my watery eye problem and pain but I am unable to work as my right eye is also affected by the cataract. I had also planned to get the right eye operated upon, once the left one is completely cured, but now everything has changed,” he lamented, adding that he had no idea from where to get justice and compensation.

“I am living in a rented house and have to look after my family. Four out of my five sons are married. But two of them still share the house with me. After the surgery, I have become totally dependent on my children,” he said.

The story of Jeevan, 45, a labourer from Hamidpur Kanora, a small town in Multan district, who was also among the 16 patients who lost eyesight after flawed surgery under the SSP is not different. Jeevan used to work as a whitewasher and would earn around Rs50,000 monthly before the surgery.

“I had bought a plot a few years back and constructed a two-room house on it. I have yet to get the plot transferred and registered in my name but can’t do so, because I am left with no money,” he said.

“Since the surgery, I can’t work as whenever I expose my affected eye to sunlight, it turns watery because of excessive secretions, while redness was still there,” the labourer deplored.

He said that he couldn’t even purchase the medicines from my own pocket as the small savings he had were spent on the treatment of the eye after the flawed surgery.

“So far the administration of the private facility [Laeeq Rafiq Hospital] has been providing me the medicines, besides getting me checked at a private clinic. But I don’t know when they would stop doing so,” the worried man who has three minor children says.

“This year, I couldn’t even buy the wheat which we would use whole year,” he said, apprehending financial hardship ahead as he has no other source of income and harbor little hope for any financial compensation from the government.

“I have set up a small grocery shop to earn a living,” he added.

Though the Punjab Healthcare Commission has imposed Rs500,000 fine on the Laeeq Rafiq Hospital, besides holding the surgeon liable under relevant laws, the measure brings little solace for these patients, who are faced with growing financial worries.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2021