No test charges for admitted patients

LAHOR: A meeting to review the notified user charges was held under the chairmanship of Health Minister Prof Yasmin Rashid here on Wednesday in Committee Room of Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Department.

The meeting was attended by Mian Shakeel, Special Secretary Health. Experts from different specialties attended the meeting. These included Prof Asad Aslam Khan, Prof. Nadeem Hayat Mallick, Prof Khalid Mahmood, Prof Asghar Naqi, Prof Rana Arshad, Prof Maroof Aziz Khan, Prof Saeed Ahmad, Prof Qamar Sardar Shaikh, Dr Rabia Wajid, Dr Asim Hameed and Dr Afzal Mahmood.

It was also observed that at present, there are no charges for diagnostic tests for the patients admitted to wards and those attending the Emergency Department. There are nominal charges for diagnostic tests for patients in OPD. However, the Medical Superintendent is fully authorised to completely waive off these charges for non-affording patients in OPD.

It was observed that the notification of the user charges issued on February18, 2019 had clearly stated that these user charges are only for private/paying patients. The notification shows that a nominal increase in the radiology and pathology tests for OPD and the purpose of this exercise was to bring a uniformed user charges for all over the Punjab.

It should be noted that the change regarding charges for surgical procedures, they are under review to make them compatible. This change in rates will be applicable for paying / private patients and for those patients who holds health insurance cards.

PHC: Punjab Healthcare Commission on Wednesday completed training of 53 general practitioners. These health professionals were trained on the minimum service delivery standards (MSDS). Director Clinical Governance Dr Mushtaq Ahmed Salariya addressed the concluding session and provided an overview of the PHC performance.

Deputy Director (Trainings) Dr Shafiq-ur-Rehman and Dr Imtiaz Ali were the trainers. These physicians were also imparted training on assessment and continuity of care of patients, management of medication, patient rights and education, infection control in clinics, continuous quality improvement, standard prescription writing and other subjects.