LAHORE: The Jinnah Hospital administration has imposed Rs500 bed charges per day for heart patients in the cardiology department in sheer violation of Punjab government’s policy of providing free treatment at public sector health facilities.

The charges were imposed without seeking permission from the Board of Management of the institute or any other competent authority.

The department officials were also minting money under various other heads, including medical services, diagnostic and laboratory services from patients in general ward by mentioning them “private patients” in the record, a senior official told Dawn on Monday.

The official who desired anonymity said the practice had been going unchecked for the last five year or so. The issue was raised on many occasions in the past by the patients but their complaints remained unaddressed, he added.

The imposition of bed charges in the hospital’s general ward is said to be a rare practice in any public sector health facility.

He said as most patients were brought to the cardiology ward in a critical condition, their attendants had no option but to accept these “odd terms and conditions” imposed by the hospital.

The official said as patients’ complaints largely remained unaddressed, this had further emboldened the department officials in getting more illegal financial benefits.

Like, he said, the department was also charging for cardiac diagnostic investigations from poor patients, further adding to their financial burden. Presently, the department is housing 10-bed Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) and 10-bed Angiography Unit.

It is charging Rs5,000 against each angiography and Rs20,000 for angioplasty, besides variable charges for other services including ETT, echocardiography etc.

Besides, the official said, the department staff was fleecing patients in the stents cost that varied from Rs100,000 to Rs150,000.

According to the laid down procedure, the doctors, technical staff and nurses of a ward were entitled to get share from the private patients only. The share was distributed under 45pc/55pc formula – 45pc of the income goes to the staff, including medics and the remaining amount goes to the hospital. However, the practice had illegally been extended to general patients as well, he said.

The official said though the poor patients were entitled to get treatment through Zakat Fund, the process was so cumbersome that the facility could not be availed by those who deserved it. Consequently, the poor had to pay for these services in accordance with the given “terms and conditions”, he added.

Moreover, he said, the patients had to buy all kinds of medicines and disposable items from the private pharmacies.

The Jinnah and Mayo hospitals are the only other options for the cardiac patients since the 347-bed Punjab Institute of Cardiology could not cater to the needs of over 10 million population of the provincial capital.

As affluent patients prefer treatment at expensive private hospitals, the public sector facilities are mostly visited by poor and middle-class people.

Since the angiography services are a major source of “share” for the Jinnah Hospital medics, they have sent Schedule of New Expenditure (SNE) to the health department for procurement of another (third) angiography machine instead of increasing the bed strength in the department to facilitate more patients in getting treatment.

Allama Iqbal Medical College Principal Prof Dr Mahmood Shaukat claimed the matter of imposing bed charges in cardiology department was not in his knowledge. He, however, admitted that there were other complaints, including charging of Rs1,500 from patients for angiography CD and doctors getting “share” in the cost of stent implants.

“I had taken strict notice of this unethical practice and strictly barred them (doctors) from indulging in it”, Prof Mahmood said, adding that the imposition of Rs500 bed charges in cardiology ward would not be tolerated for being an illegal practice.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2015

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