CJP warns hospitals charging high fees will be shut down

Says many hospitals have occupied land illegally for parking

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar has said that private hospitals should not charge a rupee more than what is set by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) for treatment.

Hearing a suo moto case on Sunday against owners of private hospitals for charging exorbitant fees from patients for medical treatment, the CJP warned Ghazanfar Ali Shah, the CEO of the Doctors Hospital and Medical Center (DHMC), that his hospital would be shut down on violation of the court verdict.

The CJP said that private hospitals were charging patients more than Rs100,000 for stent implants. “How can the hospitals overrule court’s direction and charge patients beyond the set rate?” he said to the hospital chief.



He said citizens complained they were being charged high fees at the DHMC. “A patient who was admitted to the hospital for 30 days was handed a bill of Rs4 million,” he said, adding that people from low-income groups should also be considered while setting such high charges for medical treatment.

The top judge warned that the court would announce its verdict if private hospitals did not review their charges.
Meanwhile, the chief justice said the court wanted to know the measures taken by the commission to regulate pricing of private hospitals.

Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) Chief Operating Officer Dr Ajmal Khan said, “Unfortunately the commission failed to fulfill its mandate of regulating and controlling prices of healthcare services.” He, however, said that a scrutiny of the ‘fee lists’ of at least Lahore-based private hospitals could be done within six weeks.

Justice Nisar observed that some private hospitals had raised illegal structures and occupied public roads using them as their parking lots. He pointed out that Surgimed Hospital was using a major portion of Zafar Ali Road for its parking.

Likewise, a lawyer said the Surgimed and Akram Medical Complex were situated in front of the drain along Zafar Ali Road and Jail Road respectively. At this, the chief justice directed the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to submit a report, explaining as to how they were allowed to build hospitals on the banks of drains.



Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Director General Amna Imran Khan, who was also present in the court, complained against the DHMC and said the hospital was established on a residential plot.
“Private hospitals would be slapped with Rs10,000 fine to be deposited in the dams fund for each vehicle found parked outside their allocated parking areas,” warned CJP Nisar.

Earlier on Saturday, the chief justice lambasted the private hospitals functioning in the provincial metropolis for fleecing patients in the name of medical facilities and hinted at ordering forensic audit of their accounts.

He had taken a suo motu notice of the exorbitant fees being charged by private hospitals and summoned their owners and shareholders. Notices were issued to the DHMC, Surgimed Hospital, Omar Hospital, Hameed Latif Hospital, Midcity Hospital, National Hospital (Defence), Farooq Hospital and Al-Raazi Hospital.