Helping deserving patients: PIMS launches Patient Welfare Association

Philanthropists will head the body, execute work.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has launched a Patient Welfare Association to provide financial assistance to deserving people.

“Many patients die because they fail to arrange money for their treatment. This body has been set up to save lives by arranging funds for treatment as soon as they are admitted,” Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Javed Akram said.

He said that the association has been registered and will be run by philanthropists from various backgrounds.

Prof Akram said that SZABU-Pims was only providing logistical support and a platform for the philanthropists to set up their own mechanism to run the association.

“The association’s head will be responsible for the utilisation of funds,” he said.

A senior physician at Pims said that around 80 per cent of patients visiting the hospital are from lower-income groups and depend on assistance from sources such as the Zakat fund.

He said that although Pims has a social welfare department, it faces financial issues every six months due to delays in the release of Zakat funds.

“Patients who rely on Baitul Mal have to wait for a long time before they can get any assistance,” he said.

“Some patients also do not possess NICs and face problems in getting funds released from the Baitul Mal office, and as a result, they either stop getting treatment or take loans from relatives which they can’t pay back,” he said.

Pakistan Baitul Mal Managing Director Barrister Abid Waheed Sheikh said that they try their best to entertain all the requests they receive for treatment of patients.

“With limited financial resources, it becomes difficult to entertain every request,” he said, adding that they get Rs2 billion annually to run all their affairs.

He denied that the patients have to wait for long periods before they get funds from the Baitul Mal office.

“It takes a week to release funds after the patient submits complete documents to the Baitul Mal office,” he said, adding that people without NICs were not eligible for assistance from the body.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2014.