MY younger sister was recently suffering from fever and was taken to the local government hospital where doctors prescribed some tests. The problem was that the laboratory was non-functional on account of some strike being observed by the staff. Left with no choice, we moved to a private laboratory, where we were asked to dish out Rs1,200 for getting the tests done. As it seemed I was being ripped off, I rushed to the lab outlet being run by the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) locally. The outlet itself carries the reputation of being very expensive, but, surprisingly, it charged Rs700 for the same tests.

The way the private laboratory is charging its customers is callous. Most of the patients going there happen to be poor, and are forced to go to this particular laboratory because of its proximity to the children hospital, and the almost constant ‘strike’ that its laboratory staff observes.

Shams Ul Haque
Larkana

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2022