Chemists and hospitals on the APPC panel in Karachi have long since discontinued medical provisions and treatment.
KARACHI: It is today’s retired journalists of the government-funded Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) who laid the foundation of the National News Agency and undeniably nurtured it with devotion and professional skill of journalism.
However, all the sustained and hard work by APP’s retired journalists appears to be unappreciated by the management and the authorities concerned.
APP retirees like me served the agency with diligence and devotion for four decades, both during war and peace. Scanned service records will bear out that this scribe served the APP in varied positions, including Accredited Special Correspondent to India.
Instead of appreciating their obedience and devotion to the national news agency and the country, the APP has virtually failed to ensure retirees’ legitimate healthcare for past several years.
Chemists and hospitals on the APPC panel in Karachi have long since discontinued medical provisions and treatment. Even the panel doctors has stopped treating and prescribing medicines since May 15, 2014 because of non-payment of dues.
Consequently, APPC retirees like me (who suffer from cardiac ailment) have to manage food and medical provisions with partial pension amount, which too has been badly affected by the runaway inflation.
Moreover, non-reimbursement of medical bills since 2009 has been compounding the retirees’ plight. My medical dues as of May 31, 2014 have accumulated to Rs202,662 which is a whopping sum for a retiree like me.
The amount was incurred on medicines’ purchase, lab and doctor’s fees and a left eye cataract operation duly approved and countersigned by the panel doctor as required. The bills remain unpaid to date. This is despite the many phone calls made to and monthly letters having been written to the APP management.
On February 12, 2014 and APP representative has assured the ombudsman in Karachi that the dues would be cleared on the release of funds from the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Constrained by financial hardship, I urge the management and the Federal Secretary of Information to immediately intervene for payment of the overdue medical dues and ensure availability of non-stop medical care to APPC retirees like me. I need it all the more since my wife is an acute asthma patient.
Jalil Ahmed
Ex-Special Correspondent & Director, APP (ENS)
Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2014.
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