PESHAWAR: Patients and doctors have alleged the provision of substandard medicines by some pharmacies under the Sehat Sahulat Programme, the government’s free healthcare initiative.

The patients also insisted that the pharmacies partially charged them for medicines.

A doctor of a public sector hospital here told Dawn that not only did the people admitted under the SSP receive medicines of low quality but they also had to pay for part of the medicine prices.

He said Rs90,000 worth of medicines were prescribed for a man admitted to the Lady Reading Hospital due to maxillofacial problem but the private pharmacy gave him Rs60,000 free medicines only and received Rs30,000 cash.

Official asks them to formally lodge complaints for action

A patient insisted that he was asked to take certain medicines and other stuff for a surgery that cost him Rs90,000, but they all were available for Rs35,000 in another pharmacy.

A senior surgeon of the Khyber Teaching Hospital told Dawn that the doctors had been complaining about the provision of low-quality drugs to patients under the SSP.

He said doctors of the orthopaedic ward reported the matter to the pharmacy manager of the hospital last month, to no avail.

The surgeon said the SSP was a very good initiative but it direly needed good supervision to ensure that the money allocated for patients is spent on their care.

He saidusually, patients were given substandard drugs, ‘catgut sutures and black silk’ for surgeries.

“We brought the matter to the notice of the pharmacy staff, but there is no halt to the practice. As a result, patients continue to suffer,” he said.

Doctors at the KTH said they had asked the SSP pharmacy to give ‘genuine’ medicines to the people, but to no avail.

They said they even formally highlighted the issue and others, but corrective measures weren’t made.

A senior physician told Dawn that some hospitals were empaneled for the SSP despite not having the facilities required for certain surgical procedures.

He said the State Life Insurance Corporation, which implemented the programme on behalf of the government, was calling the shots.

“Some hospitals are supposed to charge Rs20,000 to handle a delivery case under the contract, but they collect more than that from patients illegally. The SSP is short of staff, so it cannot check all records,” he asserted.

SSP director Dr Riaz Tanoli rejected those claims.

“It is up to the doctors to ensure that patients get free and quality medicines and lodge written complaints against the pharmacies. It is completely a cashless programme and no hospital, private or public, can charge patients any money,” he said.

Dr Riaz said the programme had introduced a complaint management system to record and address the patients’ grievances.

“We recently suspended the contracts of six hospitals for violating the agreements. Action will be taken against other contract violators as well,” he said.

The SSP director said the healthcare initiative was absolutely free, so the patients should formally lodge complaints with the system, while the doctors should check whether the patients purchased any medicine and other items.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2021