PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday restrained Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Foundation from making any final decision on ‘outsourcing’ of 24 government hospitals to private companies.
A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Mohammad Faheem Wali decided to club three petitions, challenging the decision of provincial government to outsource the 24 ‘underperforming’ hospitals to private sector.
While allowing KP Health Foundation (HF) to continue with the process, the bench stopped it from making any final order in that regard. The petitions are filed by two citizens Jamal Nasir and Nauman Yousaf and a lawyer Abbas Khan Sangeen.
They have sought directives of the court for respondents including provincial government and HF to withdraw an advertisement/expression of interest (EOI) and also cancel the outsourcing process undertaken by the foundation under the garb of public-private partnership and to continue to manage these hospitals under the public healthcare system as mandated by law.
They requested the court to stop respondents and their agents or contractors from proceeding further with the outsourcing or handing over of management of the said 24 hospitals to private entities.
Petitioners claim govt’s decision will turn health facilities into private entities
Moreover, they sought directives of the court for respondents to ensure uninterrupted and free provision of medical facilities and health services at all the said hospitals to people in accordance with their constitutional obligations under different provisions of the Constitution.
Advocates Aminur Rehman, Mohammad Sangeen, Saifullah Mohmand and Abbas Khan appeared for the petitioners and stated that on Sep 18, 2025, the HF managing director published an expression of interest (EOI) for provision of services at 24 health facilities across the province through public-private partnership.
They stated that by virtue of the impugned advertisement, bids were invited from private parties for outsourcing the management of 24 hospitals.
They contended that the impugned EOI, if acted upon, would result in privatisation of all the 24 hospitals that were government-managed health facilities providing services to poor and marginalised population, thereby depriving the petitioners and general public of their constitutional right of access to affordable healthcare.
Advocate Habib Anwar appeared for HF and stated that government had decided to outsource the management of 24 underperforming hospitals to private companies to improve service delivery, while patients would still receive free treatment at government rates.
He dispelled the impression that it was any sort of privatisation, stating that it was outsourcing of management and government would retain ownership and oversight through its health department.
He said that private sector would handle issues like shortage of staff and maintenance of equipment. He argued that the goal of the initiative was to upgrade healthcare services in struggling hospitals.
He said that by outsourcing management, the government intended to ensure timely and quality treatment for patients; improve hospital administration and workflow; make better use of existing government resources and increase transparency and accountability in healthcare delivery. He added that public-private partnership would fill critical gaps and all those hospitals would remain government owned.
The bench observed that it would hear those cases in detail on next date and directed HF not to make final decision on the matter.
Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2025