No such thing as a free lunch: Saidu hospital to start charging for facilities

Policy will come into effect from August 10.

MINGORA: Saidu Teaching Hospital will cease to provide free health services from August 10 and start charging money for medical facilities. 

This was stated in a notification issued by the district government and hospital administration.

According to the document, the hospital has decided to discontinue providing basic health facilities for free owing to a dearth of funds.

The notification has been pasted on the walls of various wards at the facility.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a hospital official said the government will not provide medical assistance free of cost at the operation theatre, labour room in the gynaecology department and the cardiology departments on a temporary basis. “These departments have the largest number of patients coming in,” he added.

What went wrong

The official said the government doles out money to all major state-owned hospitals of the province after approving the provincial budget.

However, this time around adequate funds have not been allotted to the facility, forcing the administration to start charging for services.

“We received this notification from the high-ups,” the official said. He added the provision of free medicine from the hospital inventory and free medical assistance to patients in the casualty ward have also been stopped.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2015.