PESHAWAR: Special assistant to the caretaker chief minister on health Prof Abid Jameel has said he doesn’t have the mandate to do away with the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act andwill focus on ways to improve patient care in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“I’ve prioritised the early resumption of free cancer treatment and reforms in the Sehat Card Plus programme to the benefit of patients and will ensure that all rural health facilities in the province are functional,” Prof Jameel told Dawn.

The CM’s aide, a former head of the oncology department at the Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar, who pioneered the free cancer treatment programme in the province, said patients suffered due to the suspension of the cashless care last year.

He said the programme would be resumed soon to the relief of the patients awaiting free medicines.

Says his focus is on improvement of patient care, Sehat Card reforms

Prof Jameel said tenders for those medicines should have been floated last year and that the delay in medicine procurements hit only the patients, who couldn’t afford expensive medication.

According to officials, the Free Treatment of Cancer Patients programme was launched at the oncology department of the HMC in 2011 for the provision of free medicines to patients of blood cancer every month.

It was extended in 2016 covering all types of cancer. Until now, it has benefited 9,000 patients, including 3,800 suffering from blood cancer, at the cost of Rs35 billion.

Under the initiative, the government pays for 10 per cent of patient care, while the rest of the cost is borne by a multinational pharmaceutical firm.

The programme came to a halt in July last year after the expiry of the health department’s three-year memorandum of understanding with the pharmaceutical company.

Prof Jameel told Dawn that he didn’t know the reasons for the suspension of a very good initiative.

“I am going to see the programme’s PC-I and will ensure the early floating of tenders after necessary homework. It is extremely important because cancer medicines are too expensive to be affordable for most patients,” he said.

The chief minister’s special assistant said the suspension of the programme had forced patients into selling their gold ornaments and other valuables for continued treatment.

“We [caretaker government] are committed to resuming free cancer treatment and medicines very soon,” he said.

Prof Jameel said there was a need for enhancing budgetary allocations for the programme as the monthly cost of a patient’s treatment totalled more than Rs100,000.

He said more than 4,000 registered patients faced problems in their treatment.

The CM’s aide said 65 per cent of the patients either recovered or received medicines to stay alive with an improved lifestyle.

He said cancer patients required two types of treatment with one of them consisting of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, which required hospitalisation and the other being oral treatment, which didn’t require admission to the hospital.

“Both treatments cost a lot,” he said.

Prof Jameel said healthcare was a very technical subject, so he wanted to utilise his decades long experience in the field for the welfare of patients.

He said he would also look into the affairs of the Sehat Card Plus programme to remove bottlenecks and streamline it.

“I’m a technical person and will utilise all my energies for reforms where required,” he said.

The CM’s aide said the other “most significant” intervention by him would be the strengthening of tehsil and district hospitals.

He said many health facilities had equipment but it was never used for one reason or another.

“I’ll ensure that the equipment is utilised by the health centres for which it was purchased. It will be shifted to the other hospitals, which need it. This move will improve diagnostic services and healthcare at grassroots level,” he said.

Prof Jameel said he had no political connections and had joined the caretaker setup only to ensure effective patient care in the province.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2023