Two private hospitals come under fire

PESHAWAR: Two privately-run hospitals in the provincial capital came under severe criticism in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday for not treating the poor patients even in times of emergency.
The adjournment motion against Rehman Medical Institute (RMI) and Northwest General Hospital and Research Centre was referred to the Health Committee of the House to probe the documents and agreement signed with the provincial government that had mentioned quota for the poor patients and for charity.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Member Provincial Assembly Arbab Jehandad Khan moved the adjournment motion. He claimed that the RMI and Northwest Hospital had closed its main gates for emergency services at the time of the suicide blast at an Imambargh located nearby in Hayatabad, Peshawar.
The PTI MPA said that the management of these hospitals did not hand over the bodies to relatives unless they paid the hospital charges during the treatment.“These hospitals even do not take the critical patients or those injured in accidents unless an advance payment involving huge amount of charges is made,” he maintained. He added that sometimes the critically injured people expire at the premises of these hospitals.
Responding to the adjournment motion, Secretary for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Arif Yousuf assured the House that the provincial Health Department would check the agreements made by the government with the two private hospitals.
The parliamentary secretary said if there was any quota for poor patients and charity purposes, then these hospitals would be compelled to abide by it.Arif Yousaf said the government had allotted precious land and even released annual grants to these hospitals to provide relief to the patients.
The adjournment motion was referred to the Health Committee of the House for further investigation.Meanwhile, a call attention notice related to imposition of the Social Security Tax on shopkeepers and small traders was kept pending when Minister for Labour and Industries Shah Farman informed the House that he was not consulted before submitting the notice at the Assembly Secretariat.
Awami National Party’s MPA Syed Jaffar Shah had tabled the call attention notice. He insisted that the government should withdraw the tax on small traders and shopkeepers. “The department concerned should brief the minister over this issue as imposition of Social Security Tax would put further burden on the business community,” he added.