Concern over hospitals’ ‘privatisation’

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has expressed concern over the proposed ‘privatisation’ of state-run health facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and unprecedented rise in investigation charges in government hospitals.

Through a statement, PMA President Dr Hussain Ahmad Haroon said he had boycotted the talks recently held between the government and Grand Health Alliance (GHA), a conglomeration of different associations of health workers, after two months of strike in the hospitals.

“The PMA had been opposing the Medical and Teaching Institution Reforms Act 2015 as it is designed to privatise all the state-run health facilities in the province under the reforms. So we refused to attend the recent meeting of representatives of the health workers with the chief minister,” said Dr Hussain Ahmad. He said he boycotted the meeting as he knew the chief minister was powerless to make decisions without prior permission of Dr Nausherwan Burki. “Unfortunately, Dr Nausherwan Burki is sitting in the United States but he is running our health system through Skype. He has disturbed our time-tested health delivery system and is unable to admit his failure,” said the PMA president. Dr Haroon said after MTI Act, the hospitals had announced 200 per cent increase in their OPD slips and investigation charges. He claimed that there were no more free health services in the government-run hospitals after so-called health reforms introduced in the province. He said the government was now planning to privatise district and regional hospitals by introducing District Health Authority (DHA) and Regional Health Authority (RHA), and vowed to use all legal means to oppose such attempts of the government.