Daily Times

LAHORE: Hospitals should not charge patients more than the rate set by the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council for treatment, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar remarked on Sunday.

While hearing a case against private hospital owners charging exorbitant fees from patients for medical treatment, the chief justice told Doctors Hospital & Medical Centre Chief Executive Officer Ghazanfar Ali Shah to close his medical facility if he could not serve the public.

Doctors hospital is a private facility in the city, whose chief executive officer appeared in court as the chief justice had issued summons a day earlier for owners of private hospitals.

At the hearing, the CJP observed that owners of private hospitals bill patients with over Rs 100,000 to implant stents despite orders of charging within the limit.

Justice Nisar addressed the CEO of Doctors Hospital, asking how they could overrule court orders and charge extra fees.

Moreover, the CJP said people complained that they were charged exorbitant fees at the hospital.

A patient who is admitted at the hospital for 30 days was handed a bill of Rs 4 million, Justice Nisar said, expressing objection.

He added that people from low-income backgrounds should also be considered while setting such high charges on medical treatment.

The court will announce a verdict if private hospitals do not review their rates, the CJP observed.

Lahore Development Authority director general, who was also present in court, complained against Doctors Hospital saying the facility was established on a residential plot. He added commercial activity of the hospital was under way on a one-canal residential plot.

Published in Daily Times, September 17^th 2018.