Sindh urged to give discount to patients from Balochistan

Sindh caretaker chief minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar has said that public hospitals in the province are providing free treatment to every patient, even if they belong to another province, while the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (Gims) does charge fees for some specialised services.

Balochistan interim CM’s adviser for social welfare and special education, Shania Khan, who called on Baqar at the CM House on Monday, said the Balochistan Social Welfare Department has an endowment fund from which treatment of poor patients with deadly diseases is ensured.

She said patients are referred Sindh’s hospitals, like the Ojha campus of the Dow University of Health Science in Karachi and Gims, but treatment there is costly, so patients from Balochistan should be given a discount.

Baqar said that as far as the Ojha campus is concerned, it is the constituent hospital of the Dow University, where already subsidised rates are being charged. As for Gims, he said, the facility has a long list of patients for liver transplant. “Even then I’m directing the health department to discuss the matter with both the hospitals for the welfare of poor patients from Balochistan. Baloch are our brothers, and we won’t disappoint them.”