New bill ready on private hospitals

Minist­er says that doctor­s must put forwar­d their demand­s.

KARACHI: The draft of the Sindh Private Hospitals and Clinics Regulatory Authority Bill is expected to be adopted by the provincial assembly in two weeks, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed said on Thursday at a ceremony organised by the Sindh Doctors Action Committee at Dow University of Health Sciences.

Ahmed told the gathering of doctors, adding that a copy of the draft is with the chief minister and may be forwarded to the assembly soon.

He went on to comment on how doctors are targeted because they have not united on one platform yet. Doctors must unite to fight for their rights, he advised.

Ahmed said that everyone knew who was behind the target killing of the doctor in Lyari, yet nothing was being done to protect others. He called on the medical fraternity to carry out peaceful rallies and demonstrations to make their voices heard.

He also said they need to demand their rights from law enforcers. He said that his party (the Muttahida Qaumi Movement) would support their efforts.

The most-discussed topic of the event was medical negligence. According to Ahmed, the ‘mob justice’, recently witnessed in cases in which doctors were beaten up or arrested in the middle of the night, is “unacceptable”. “It is unfair that the government is not providing proper protection to them [doctors],” the minister said.

He said he believed doctors do not harm their patients intentionally and therefore such mob behaviour is unwarranted. Ahmed recommended legal recourse for patients and/or their families who feel a medical professional has not dealt with their case properly. He added that in cases where doctors were fatally targeted and beaten up, their families received no support — financial or otherwise — from the government.

In response to a question, he said that promotion of special cadre doctors associated with the health department, coupled with time scale promotions of all staffers and officer level professionals was also being streamlined. He added that the summary for the promotions was sent nearly two years ago but is being implemented only now. According to the minister, 1,995 promotions will take place as a result.

On the disparity in compensation of medical professionals, he compared the allowance in Sindh, which is around Rs400 a month, whereas in Punjab it is Rs5,000 per month. On the topic of stipend increases, he said, a summary has been sent to the chief minister and is hopeful that it will be implemented soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th,  2011.