KARACHI:
Government employees in Sindh are faced with enormous difficulties in acquiring immediate healthcare facilities. The lengthy procedure prevents people from receiving urgent medical support and government employees are not reimbursed or exempted from paying for medical assistance. One of the reasons for this is that the allocated medical budget is suspected to have been consumed by those in higher positions. Despite being entitled to medical facilities, employees in lower-ranked positions are deprived of it through extensive paperwork. Once the employees get past the finance and administrative process, they are required to wait in queue for years to claim their medical bills, which is a meagre amount.
The Sindh government must learn from the provincial government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which announced the free provision of outpatient department (OPD) services for government employees under the Sehat Sahulat Programme. Instead of passing frequent laws and poor amendments related to health facilities for employees, the provincial government should work on improving the existing health programmes. Government employees in Sindh should not have to suffer because of the corruption and injustices of the few at the top, they must receive proper facilities.
Nuzair Ahmed
Shikarpur
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2021.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
