LAHORE, July 26: No annual performance report of any of the medical and health institutions in the province has been submitted to the Punjab Assembly for discussion since 2003, which is in violation of the Punjab Medical and Health Institution Act (PMHIA), Dawn has learnt.

The act requires that the annual performance reports of all medical and health institutions in Punjab be submitted to the government within three months of the conclusion of a calendar year, and the same be also forwarded to the Punjab Assembly for a debate.

An official told Dawn on Thursday that though a few teaching hospitals in the province submitted their annual performance reports to the health department but these could not be forwarded to the Punjab Assembly either. “Non-submission of the reports to the PA means the medical institutions\hospitals escape accountability and public is also kept in the dark about irregularities (if any) committed by the respective administrations of these institutions,” he said, adding that the members of PA standing committee on health might be unaware of the fact that it was their right to hold accountable the heads of the boards of governors of such institutions and inquire about non-submission of the reports.

A senior physician said a parliamentarian in a previous assembly session had pointed out certain problems faced by him and his family at a major teaching hospital of Lahore, asking if a parliamentarian was meted out such treatment by the hospital administration, what would happen to the members of public?

Similarly, he said, a three-member team of legislators was constituted by the chair to look into the affairs of one of the teaching hospitals in Lahore. It had forwarded certain recommendations, which, however, could not be implemented by the BoGs of that hospital, he added.

He said the BoGs of some teaching hospitals had no professionals on them, and were not taking enough measures to provide relief to the patients. “Most teaching hospitals have yet to provide free test and counselling facilities to patients and evolve a system to avoid long queues,” he said.

Pakistan Medical Association Lahore secretary general Dr Azeemuddin Zahid said that violation of the Act showed that health was a low-priority issue with the government. He said presentation of the annual performance reports of the teaching hospitals in the PA would not only help unmask irregularities there but it would also provide an opportunity to the legislators to recommend certain steps for improvement of these institutions.

Punjab Health Minister Chaudhry Iqbal told Dawn that he would take notice of the violation of the Act and would convene a meeting of the officials concerned in this regard.