ISLAMABAD: The largest public sector hospital in the federal capital requires Rs3 billion to keep its operations running, citing patient influx and devaluation of the Pakistani rupee against the dollar.

According to a senior doctor at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the hospital could not meet its expenses amid inflation which led to the increase in the price of medicines and other basic utilities.

The doctor said the number of patients visiting the outpatient department in fiscal year 21-22 was about 1.01 million which increased to 1.28 million in the following year.

“During FY22-23, 737,662 patients visited the emergency department; 77,370 patients were admitted; 24,821 surgeries were conducted of which 19,524 were major surgeries and 5297 were minor surgeries.

Doctor claims more than 1,200 posts vacant as hospital struggles to cope with patients influx, fiscal crunch

“As many as 4.25 million tests were conducted at pathology lab and 471,577 radiological tests were conducted,” the doctor disclosed.

Shortage of doctors

Amid an increase in patients, the hospital is facing an acute shortage of staff, with almost 1,265 posts vacant out of 4,152.

“As many as 199 posts need to be filled through promotions and 1066 seats will be filled through recruitment. Unfortunately, the process has been delayed because of the [health] ministry,” he said.

“A few days ago the Pims management held a meeting with the health ministry to raise the issue but we were told to ban the extended leaves of doctors to address this issue,” he said, claiming that the ministry refused to extend support to the hospital. He also expressed concerns over the lack of a full-time federal health minister in the country.

Cash-strapped Pims

A letter to the ministry about the financial crunch faced by Pims for the last few years revealed that the hospital was allocated Rs6.62 billion against the demand of Rs8.65 billion during the FY23-24, about 23pc less than the actual requirement of the institute. An amount of Rs2.72 billion was allocated for non-ERE (employee-related expenses) during FY 2022-23 and after the imposition of a 15pc cut the final amount was Rs2.58 billion.

“...[Pims] had requested for additional funds amounting to Rs770 million during FY 2022-23 under the head of accounts… Subsequently, the finance division approved the supplementary grant of Rs575 million which could not be matured due to the closing of financial year 2022-23; resultantly, the liabilities carried forward to FY 2023-24,” it stated.

“It is also submitted for your information that the tariff rates of utilities have increased two times with reference to the previous financial year and prices of drugs and medicines and other store items have also increased more than double due to devaluation of the rupee [during past two years],” it stated.

“The payment of utilities, leave encashment and financial assistance package is mandatory which has to be paid at any cost and budget allocation under the respective head of A/C with all components is less than the actual requirement,” it stated.

“Therefore, in the light of the above-mentioned facts and figures, additional funds amounting to Rs3 billion are required to clear the outstanding liabilities…and anticipated expenditure up to June 2024,” the letter concluded.

Speaking to Dawn, Health Secretary Iftikhar Ali Shallwani said he was aware that the hospital required funds to ensure the treatment of the patients. “However, I have sought details of expenditure which Pims management has failed to provide. I also need justification for the expenditures because the amount from the exchequer cannot be spent unnecessarily,” he said. “However, the ministry has [still] forwarded the request of the Pims management to the finance division,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2024