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SOCIAL worker renowned for his philanthropic endeavours, especially with respect to free dialysis services, recently exposed through a social media post the mafia of pathological labo-ratories charging exorbitant amounts against tests that cost not even one-tenth of the amount charged.

In a video, he can be seen showing a payment receipt from a famous patho- logical laboratory that claims to be the ‘most reliable’ in its field.

The man had been charged a total of Rs21,600 when the accumulated cost of all the tests was a mere Rs1,812. The actual cost had been worked out on the basis of the material and equipment that was as good as the said laboratory uses. In fact, it included certain equipment that is not even available at the laboratory.

People keep talking about the absurd escalation in the cost of medicines, consultation fee and hospitalisation charges, but hardly ever doen someone talk about the affairs of pathological laboratories in the country.

There is an urgent need for gover-nment intervention to curb such exploitative practices. The relevant authorities must take stringent action against the mafia that is managing pathological laboratories across the length and breadth of the country.

In these seriously worrisome times of hyper-inflation, it is becoming excee-dingly challenging for the common man to afford even life-saving treatments for their loved ones.

It is needless to say that almost 90 per cent of Pakistanis qualify to be desc- ribed as the ‘common man’; such is the level and spread of financial hardship.

Zoaha Zaheer
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2023