Health ministry to outsource diagnostic, imaging services at PIMS: officials

ISLAMABAD: Frustrated by a barrage of complaints regarding irregularities, malpractices, and frequent breakdowns of expensive equipment and scanners, the federal health authorities have decided to outsource diagnostic and radiology services at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad, officials disclosed on Monday.

The move comes in the wake of a recent visit by Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Barath, the newly appointed health coordinator to the prime minister. Dr Barath expressed strong dissatisfaction over the irregularities and malpractices within the pathology and radiology departments during his inspection of PIMS and other federal health facilities in the capital.

“On the directives from the coordinator to the prime minister on NHS,R&C, we have asked the pathology and radiology departments to submit detailed plans for outsourcing the diagnostic services of both departments,” a PIMS official confirmed to The News.

An internal circular issued by PIMS’ Executive Director Dr Rana Imran Sikandar and an office note from the federal health ministry also confirmed that health authorities had directed the PIMS administration to immediately launch the process of outsourcing diagnostic services at PIMS, construction of a vertical tower for super specialties, and starting evening OPDs at the medical institute.

“Patients’ suffering has compelled the health authorities to outsource the diagnostic and imaging services at PIMS,” claimed an official of the Ministry of Health. “Private diagnostic labs are being asked to submit their bids to perform diagnostic and imaging services including X-ray, ultrasound, CT scans, and MRI at existing government rates for the patients.”

The official claimed that the process of outsourcing the diagnostic and imaging services was initiated during the tenure of the caretaker government. Several private diagnostic service providers were asked to bid for the provision of services at PIMS, but due to political implications, the caretaker government decided not to proceed with the process.

“Now with the newly elected government in place, the Ministry of Health has re-initiated the process and asked the private diagnostic services to resubmit their bids for providing diagnostic and imaging services at PIMS,” the official said, adding that one of the main conditions for outsourcing these services is that charges of all the services would not be increased by the contractor.

In response to a query, the health ministry official claimed that massive financial irregularities were being committed at both the pathology and radiology departments. Private labs’ tests were allegedly being performed at PIMS’s labs free of charge in exchange for monetary benefits, while regular patients were being denied lab tests and imaging services, the official added.

“An internal inquiry revealed that patients were being referred to private diagnostic labs and radiology centres for many medical tests and imaging services. Even physicians were asking patients to get their labs done from private labs by declaring PIMS’s labs’ results unreliable and unsatisfactory,” the official claimed.

The official further informed that Islamabad Diagnostic Centre (IDC), a reputable diagnostic centre, was recently awarded a contract for running MRI machines at Faisalabad and Sialkot hospitals and four CR scanners at primary healthcare centres in Wah Cantt, Mianwali, and Faisalabad.

Claiming that outsourcing the diagnostic and imaging services at PIMS and other public health facilities would benefit the patients, the official said that no extra financial burden would have to be borne by the patients visiting these health facilities.

“At such a massive economy of scale, private diagnostic centres would offer all the services at the rates approved by the government, while top-quality diagnostic services acceptable to everyone in the country and even abroad would be provided to the patients,” the official claimed.

On the other hand, staff at PIMS expressed reservations over the “privatisation” efforts by the health ministry and vowed not to let the ministry privatise the public hospital in the garb of a public-private partnership.