Punjab govt sells 982 basic health units

RAWALPINDI:

The Punjab Health Department has formally privatised and sold 982 basic health units (BHUs), including 73 from the Rawalpindi division.

All medical staff, including doctors, lady doctors, paramedics, and grade-IV employees, will be relieved of their duties.

This is the second phase of the privatisation effort, following the sale of 150 BHUs last month.

So far, a total of 1,132 BHUs have been handed over to the private sector out of 2,507 in the province. By the start of the fiscal year 2025–26, all BHUs and rural health centres are expected to be privatised.

The upcoming fiscal year will also see the inclusion of major public hospitals in larger cities—Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Multan—on the privatisation list.

Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto General Hospital in Rawalpindi have already been included. Employees of the sold BHUs have begun protesting and staging demonstrations at their respective facilities.

Due to a severe financial and economic crisis and a significant shortage of funds in the province, the Punjab Health Department has abolished all 30,000 vacant posts from BPS 1 to BPS 18.

Earlier this year, it approved the sale of 90 basic health units and rural health centres in the Rawalpindi division under a cost-saving project.