KARACHI, Jan 31: Some state-owned hospitals claim that they provide health care to the masses free of charge. This is only a half truth.

One is compelled to say this because if a person visiting such an institution gets some medical examinations or an X-ray done, he or she has to pay a fee. If, however, he or she only gets a prescription written by a doctor no fee is required. In other words only consultation is free.

As could be expected only a fraction of the people visiting these hospitals get prescriptions only. Many of the patients need to get blood and urine examined.

Many others need to get body parts X-rayed. Still others need to get ultrasound and ECG etc done. All such people have to pay up. Needless to say, most people have to buy medicine from the market because most drugs are simply not available in the government-run hospitals.

During a visit to one such hospital on Thursday, Dawn came across a number of people who expressed surprise when they were asked to pay up to Rs40 for an ultrasound examination or Rs20 for a blood urea test.

A doctor on call told Dawn that many patients who visited the hospital’s OPD had only travel expenses on them. “Many of these people simply don’t have money to pay for medical examinations like blood and urine tests.”

He said he had witnessed many “shouting matches” between the doctors and poor patients over the issue of payment of fee.

To be sure, the cost of each examination in a government hospital is on the lower side. But the fact remains that once a test is done, the government’s claim that it is providing free health care goes out the window.

A senior official said the authorities had started claiming that it provided free health care after the fee for the “parchi” was abolished. Initially the “parchi” — a token issued to every patient who wants the OPD doctors to examine him or her — cost Rs2 in hospitals like the Sindh Government Hospital Liaquatabad.

Then the authorities decided to do away with this fee. Soon after, they started claiming that the Liaquatabad Hospital had started providing health care free of charge.

Another source told Dawn that a portion of the fee charged from patients for various medical examinations went directly to the government coffers. This portion of the money couldn’t even be touched by the hospital concerned.

He said every “blood CP test” cost Rs10. “Out of this amount Rs3 goes to the government,” he added.

The doctor said the structure of fee to be charged from patients, most often from the lower strata of the society, was revised in 2000. According to the revised structure, the following amounts must be charged for various examinations and tests: Blood CP, Rs10; ESR, Rs5; Urine DR, Rs10; Sputum, Rs10; Stool DR, Rs10; Pregnancy test, Rs40; Blood Grouping, Rs10; Blood Cross Match, Rs10; LFT, Rs60; S. Bilurubin, Rs20; S. Ali Phosphate, Rs20; SGPT, Rs20; BT CT, Rs5; Blood Urea, Rs20; Blood Sugar, Rs20; S. Uric Acid, Rs20; S. Creatinin, Rs20; S. Cholesterol, Rs20; RAD Factor, Rs50; Australian Antigen, Rs50; X-ray, Rs35; Dental X-ray, Rs16; IVP, Rs240; Ultrasound, Rs40; and, ECG, Rs20.