Health card holders frustrated in Shangla

Shangla is a backward area of the province with only one hospital in the area

SHANGLA: Patients and attendants seeking medical help at the Shangla Medical Complex were left frustrated when they were allegedly turned away by medical officials at the complex on Sunday reportedly because medical procedures are not performed on weekly and gazetted holidays for health card carriers.

The aggrieved patients and their attendants said that the treatment and operations of the government-backed health insurance scheme — Sehat Insaf Card —holders was shambolic.

Noting that since Shangla is a backward area of the province, only a single hospital in the district — the Shangla Medical Complex, is listed on the panel of the health card list.

Narrating their ordeal, they said that when they arrived at the empanelled hospital on Sunday with the health cards in their hands, they found the office of the government-contracted insurance provider in the hospital was closed.

Inadequate healthcare facilities

When they asked around, they were told that staff from the insurance company is not present on Sundays. They claimed that other staff of the hospital also did not co-operate with the patients.

As a result, they said that many patients who had travelled from far-flung areas had to return home without receiving any medical treatment.

They decried that an emergency case could come in at any given moment, adding patients also had to face extreme difficulties owing to the absence of B-forms.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2019.