ISLAMABAD: Though health authorities claim that free of cost treatment is provided to the citizens in public sector hospitals, Prime Minister Imran Khan in a written reply has informed the National Assembly that patients were paying up to Rs150,000 for angioplasty and Rs23,000 for angiography at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

It may be noted that government employees, who are entitled to free treatment, do not have the facility to undergo surgery and pay the cost through their departments afterwards like the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC).

PTI MNA Fauzia Behram had asked the minister for national health services (NHS) if it was true that heart surgery and angiography were the most costly treatments at Pims. She also asked if it was a fact that government employees had to submit hundreds of thousands of rupees before undergoing surgery and angiography.

The third question was if there was any proposal under consideration of the government to allow government employees to make payment of surgery after reimbursement from their departments.

In the absence of a federal minister for health, the prime minister has the charge of the ministry. Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan is dealing with health-related issues.

The federal health minister (Imran Khan) in a written reply stated that the hospital (Pims) was providing 100pc free angioplasty/stenting to acute heart attack patients from its own budget whether they were from any segment of society.

“Poor patients are also being treated with Baitul Maal’s assistance. Now we have also started treatment of patients from Sehat Sahulat Programme. The total cost of angiography is Rs23,000,” he stated.

Hospital charges for angiography are Rs10,000 and the cost of consumable items is Rs13,000. The cost of angioplasty includes Rs40,000 hospital charges and Rs100,000 to Rs150,000 for consumable items for one drug-eluting stent depending on the type of the stent used.

“The total cost is the cheapest for all hospitals in Islamabad/Rawalpindi both in the public and private sectors like AFIC. No hospital fee is charged from government employees and the payment made by these entitled patients is for consumable items only. All entitled departments have their own medical budget for their employees and reimbursement is made by concerned department from their own medical budget.

The amount spent on the purchase of stent/s and other devices is also reimbursed by the department under medical attendance rules 1990 and subsequent guidelines. The federal government is already providing free of cost health facilities,” the minister stated.

“The amount which is spent by the patient in case of unavailability of some services/items is reimbursed by the department. However, if the concerned department agrees to allocate a certain amount from their medical budget to Pims, these employees will not be charged for these items. In addition, the government is also planning to introduce Sehat Card for the federal government servants to avoid out of pocket expense at the time of emergency,” the reply concluded.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2021