ANP leader criticises KP govt’s health policy

PESHAWAR: Provincial President of the Awami National Party, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, has stated that due to the failed health policy of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, patients face numerous problems at public hospitals, while senior and specialist doctors have quit the government hospitals.

In a statement on Saturday, the ANP leader said that like other departments, the health department and public hospitals were on the verge of collapse in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has been in power for the last 11 years.

“A close relative of the PTI chairman has been appointed as the chief executive of the Lady Reading Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the province, and he runs the hospital affairs via Skype from the USA,” he said, adding that many senior and specialist doctors have resigned from public hospitals.

He said there was no transparency in the Sehat Card system, as the health insurance cards were being misused by doctors and hospital management.

“We are not against Sehat Cards, but we want free treatment for all patients in the hospitals,” he said, adding that poor patients were being compelled to visit private hospitals for expensive treatment.

Mian Iftikhar said that the cardiology department at LRH was about to close, and there were only 28 beds in the ICU wards of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s largest hospital, LRH, in Peshawar. He called for immediate and practical steps for the improvement of the health sector and public hospitals in the province.