PESHAWAR, April 16: Shortage of Zakat fund has been affecting the treatment of deserving patients at hospitals, said an official in the provincial Zakat and Usher department on Wednesday.

“From the last four years, the hospitals had been getting no additional allocation in Zakat head, whereas the prices of drugs and investigations have gone up several folds,” said  the official. According to him, the federal Zakat Council, had categorised some of the hospitals/ward as national level health facilities to which it issued the funds.

The facilities which received Zakat fund from federal Zakat council on yearly basis included, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Rs.8.5million; Cardiology Ward, LRH, Rs 4.8 million; Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicines (IRNUM), Rs 9 million; Khyber Teaching Hospital, Rs 7 million; Hayatabad Medical Complex, Rs 1.5 million; Cantonment Board General Hospital, one million and Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad, Rs 6 million.

But there has no revision in the allocation of Zakat grant from the past four years, whereas there has been three times revision in the treatment allocation of the patients. It has been causing hardships to the patients totally dependent on the Zakat for their treatment. The problem is further aggravated by the fact that the allocated money is released to these hospitals in two instalments after every six months.

“Recently, the Health Welfare Committee, NWFP has asked the federal Zakat council to revise the allocation of fund in view of the increase in the rates of medicines and users’ charges in order to facilitate the deserving patients,” said the official, adding that several patients didn’t complete their treatment, because the funds at the hospitals exhausted quickly.

Four year ago, according to the prescribed rules, the outdoor patients were entitled to get Rs 200, whereas the indoor ones were given Rs 400 for the treatment. While presently, the amount for the treatment of outdoor and indoor patients was Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 respectively but allocation wasn’t based proportionate basis that caused trouble for the poor patients.

Likewise, the patients at the district headquarters hospitals (DHQs), tehsil headquarters hospitals (THQs), rural  health centres (RHCs) and basic health units (BHUs), also suffer immensely, because of the less money issued for the treatment of the deserving patients from the total Zakat outlay of the province.

Only six per cent of the total amount of the Zakat was spent on the patients. The government has released a total amount of Rs 539.1million during the current fiscal year. Of which, according to set formula, 60 per cent would go to the widows and disable under the head of subsistence allowance (Rs 400 per family), 18 per cent to the education of the poor students from primary to university level, 18 per cent to the students of religious seminaries, six per cent to 24 DHQs, 34 THQs and 300 RHCs and BHUs in the province.

Under the formula, DHQs gets Rs 20 per bed per day and THQs Rs 15 per bed per day, while the rest of the amount was distributed equally among the RHCs and BHUs. As a whole, only Rs 29.2 million was spent on the patients from the total amount of Rs 539.1 million.

Much to the advantage of the patients, the provincial usher and Zakat department has amended the procedure of getting treatment  under Zakat last year by doing away with  the countersignature of the district chairmen. This has benefited the patients and their relatives of the long and painful procedure first getting signatures the form from their local Zakat heads and then to countersign the same from the district chairmen. But the main problem haunting the patients is shortage of Zakat funds  for their treatment.

Zakat money is issued directly to the hospital, where special sections were dealing Zakat cases. But lion’s share of the Zakat amount was allocated for poor and needy people under other heads was being siphoned off by the members and chairmen of the local Zakat committees by releasing the Zakat money to the non- deserving.