PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has stopped government hospitals from distributing part of patient charges to their employees and utilising it to improve patient care in line with the guidelines outlined in the KP Finance Act, 2021.
The hospital employees have long been getting a share from the “user charges” collected from patients for investigations and the use of operating theatres and private rooms.
However, the health department has now declared the practice a violation of the law and ordered an immediate end to it.
In a notification, the department instructed the director general (health services), DG of the provincial Health Services Academy, DG (drugs control and pharmacy services), district health officers, medical superintendents of all non-MTI district headquarters hospitals and category B, C and D hospitals in the province to ensure that hospitals no longer share user charges with their employees.
Official says money will be utilised to improve patient care
The notification, titled “Discontinuation of distribution of share to the staff from the revenue collected by the hospitals”, pointed out that following the enactment of the Finance Act, 2021, all notifications with regard to deductions from user charges or any distribution of the revenue so collected, among the staff were no longer valid.
“It has come to light that the hospitals are distributing substantial amounts among their staff as share from the revenue collected in clear contravention of the law.
All such deductions and distribution of the revenue collected, among the staff as a share by all health facilities may be stopped forthwith,” it said.
The notification also said that 90 per cent of the revenue collected would be retained and transferred to the designated bank accounts of the respective health management committee (HMCs) and primary care management committee (PCMCs), to be utilised in accordance with the officially notified guidelines governing those committees, while the rest of 10pc of the same revenue would be deposited in the exchequer in accordance with the law.
Officials said that in the past, a few directives were issued to the hospitals but those weren’t implemented as the employees had obtained a stay order from the court.
They said that the share from user charges had been financially benefitting the employees involved in investigative sections, like pathology, cardiology and radiology, from technicians to section heads.
The officials said thatwith the introduction of Sehat Card Plus, the employees also got a share from money spent on the patients, receiving care under the health insurance scheme, in addition to their monthly salaries as a big incentive.
They said that if the notification was strictly enforced, it would save a good amount of money for the government that could be used for improving services.
The officials, however, said that the medical teaching institutions will continue to get a share from user charges as the health department’s notification covered only non-MTIs hospitals.
They insisted that the department could request the respective MTI board of governors to abolish that practice and utilise those payments to improve patient care.
The officials said that it was more likely that the notification would be challenged in the court as the employees didn’t want to lose sizable revenues they had been getting for a long time.
They said that such attempts by the health department had failed in the past, too.
The officials said that as per the notification, the amount was retained by hospital management committees and primary care management committees as those bodies were meant to spend the funds locally and ensure minor repairs and procurements without pursuing lengthy procedures.
Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2025
