Affordable healthcare

SC takes suo-motu notice of overcharging by Lahore’s private hospitals

At long last the Punjab Health Commission (PHC), on the orders of the Supreme Court, has come to the rescue of harried patients and their families who are being milked by the doctor-hospital cartel for long. After the SC took suo-motu notice of overcharging by Lahore’s private hospitals, the PHC has prepared a report on the issue and has made recommendations to lessen the burden of healthcare. The commission has graded 17 private hospitals and accordingly proposed the reduced fees and charges. The proposed cut in charges will come into effect after SC directions. Later, the reduced charges will be applicable at all private hospital in Punjab.

Now the doctor-hospital cartel enjoys complete freedom to charge patients what they liked without taking into account the sanctity of human life and the paying capacity of patients. So the SC intervened to rein in profiteering in the name of providing healthcare. Consultant doctors charge from Rs3,000 to Rs5,000. Charges for other services are also very high. For instance, an angiography test costs Rs29,000 and the proposed charge has been set up to Rs 16,303; the present cost of ultrasound is Rs3,500 and the maximum proposed charge is Rs1,340. Most hospitals informed that patients bring pharmaceutical and surgical supplies themselves. Room rent per night at some A grade hospitals is as high as Rs70,000, more than the rent at a five-star hotel. Some of the hospitals adopt ingenious methods of profiteering. Even when standard-size rooms are available they force patients to rent expensive rooms on the excuse that relatively inexpensive rooms were already occupied.

The PHC has proposed substantial cuts in charges to make healthcare affordable for patients and families. This is a welcome step and we hope the PHC recommendations will be replicated in other provinces too. Nothing is more valuable than human life.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2018.

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