Reaching out: Evening clinics for four government hospitals

PESHAWAR: Four teaching hospitals will open their doors in the evening for doctors to hold clinics, announced the department of health of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday.

According to the ‘Evening-Paid Patient Services’, the senior registrars of Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar and Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad would start private practice at their out-patients departments in the evening.

Each of them will charge a consultation fee of Rs300 per patient.

Out of the Rs300, 10 per cent would go to a common pool for auxiliary staff, 30 per cent to the institute and 60 per cent to the doctor.

This idea came from Special Health Secretary Prof. Dr Noorul Imaan who wanted to re-establish private clinics in government hospitals.

The motive of making doctors available in the evening was not to make money or engage in politics but to deliver quality health care at a reasonable fee, commented Dr Imaan while chairing the meeting on Saturday.

He felt, however, that certain people would try to frustrate the plan.

The meeting was held with Khyber Teaching Hospital’s Dr Mohammad Zaffar, Hayatabad’s Dr Aftab Akbar Durrani and Ayub’s Prof. Dr Ziaul Islam among others.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2011.