LAHORE: Health authorities have proposed amendments to the Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) Act of 2010, which may affect its ‘independence of the Board of Commissioners (BoCs)’, says an official.

The official said the Punjab Healthcare and Medical Education Department (PH&MED) proposed amendments to the Act to change the composition of the BoCs by abolishing the slots of the jurist (judge of the Lahore High Court, the financial expert and others).

The draft proposes that five slots in the nine-member BoCs be given to health professionals that will give numerical dominance to medical professionals in the commission, which may later be instrumental to pick blue-eyed chairman of the PHC.

It is being said the proposed composition of the BoCs will amount to “regulatory capture” as the healthcare service providers to be regulated by the Commission will become the final authority in the Commission.

This would amount to diminishing or compromising patients’ rights and inflict dent on the autonomy of the PHC, the official lamented.

The three-year term of the BoCs expires in January.

The draft was recently presented at the meeting of the cabinet committee on legislative business, chaired by Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat.

The official claims that many participants in the meeting objected to the proposal that the powers of the Commission to take action against health professionals and service providers be reviewed.

The official says this would diminish the authority of the commission to proceed against the violators of the Act.

Presently, the Commission can impose fine on delinquents. Also, the provisions to regulate prices of healthcare services are also being withdrawn under the proposed amendment Act.The official said the Punjab SHC&ME Department was already facing criticism under the definition of healthcare service provider being custodian of the major teaching hospitals.

He said the status of the PHC may, therefore, be made consistent with the provisions of the PHC Act 2010 and to work under the Chief Minister’s secretariat instead of the health department.

The PHC was established in October 2011 in terms of the PHC Act, 2010, promulgated by the provincial legislature.

The primary objective of the PHC as a premier regulator in the health sector is to improve the quality of healthcare services and ban quackery in all its forms and manifestations.

The legal mandate of the PHC towards regulating the service delivery in the public and private healthcare establishments was enforced through prescribing minimum service delivery standards and issuing regular license upon compliance with level specific.

The commission is empowered to adjudicate complaints against the healthcare service providers regarding medical negligence, etc.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2021