PESHAWAR: The shortage of funds has been hampering patients’ care in public sector hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to officials.

“Shortage of funds has been adversely affecting our day-to-day services. We desperately require Rs3 billion approved budget, which has not been released,” Mohammad Asim, the spokesperson for the province’s biggest health facility Lady Reading Hospital, said. He added that a total of Rs5 billion, approved for the hospital, was frozen.

“The hospital also faces shortage of funds to pay salaries to its employees but the main issue is that we need funds to ensure provision of medicines, surgical disposable items and other medical supplies to provide services to patients,” he said.

The medical teaching institutions (MTIs) as well as the facilities operating directly under health department are complaining of non-availability of funds for payment of salaries to staff as well as procurement of medicines and operational cost.

Health secretary says matter not brought into his notice

Health Secretary Mahmood Aslam, however, said that the issue had not been brought into his notice. He said that he would take up the matter with relevant quarters to make sure that employees got salaries and patients received services.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has more than 1,900 health facilities employing over 60,000 staffers including doctors, paramedics and nurses. On April 19, the State Life Insurance Corporation suspended Sehat Card Plus programme due to non-payment of its dues by the government.

The insurance firm, which runs the free health insurance programme for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, restored the services after a day when then health adviser to chief minister Prof Abid Jameel intervened and paid Rs2 billion to it.

Sources said that federal government had not paid dues of Rs238 billion to the province that resulted in the disruption of healthcare services as well as payment of salaries to the employees of hospitals.

“We used to pay advance salaries to staff before Eid but this time didn’t release salaries owing to shortage of money,” a senior administrative officer at one of the hospitals told Dawn.

Sources said that financial crunch was badly affecting patients’ care in 10 medical teaching institutions that were catering to the needs of bulk of patients requiring tertiary care.

They said that the hospitals also put on hold purchasing equipments due to financial crunch but there was no way to deny treatment to patients.

They said that district headquarters hospitals were also affected since the installation of the caretaker government in the province. They added that in many hospitals, people were being sent to market to buy essential medicines to be given to critically-ill or injured patients.

“We need all emergency drugs in the accidents and emergency department to ensure that life-saving procedures take place effectively. A slight delay in medication of serious patients can deteriorate their health condition,” the medical superintend of a DHQ hospital said.

He said that the hospitals had already spent the amount they generated from user charges or SCP programme. He said that now the hospitals were desperately looking towards the government to continue their operations.

A director at one of the MTIs told Dawn that they had paid salaries to Class-IV employees before Eid because they were too poor but other staff was yet to be paid.

Officials at health department told Dawn that the financial crunch was unlikely to go away anytime soon and the caretaker government knew it very well.

“However, the government must provide funds for salaries and medical supplies including life-saving drugs to ensure medication of seriously-sick patients in the hospitals,” they said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023