Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s health policy has miserably failed to overcome the health woes of the common man and he has now been left at the mercy of the corrupt mafia at the public sector hospitals.

PM Nawaz Sharif vowed to provide hassle free medical facilities to the poor at their door steps but the people sitting at the helm of affairs are caring a hoot of the orders introduced by the federal government.

The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the largest medical facility centre in the capital which has also been plagued with  corruption and malpractice, has insufficient facilities to meet out the spiralling needs of the patients.

The latest example of the PIMS administration’s apathy toward sick people could be gauged by the incident which happened on Wednesday when two poor patients Abida and Parveen were denied to avail the free facilitiy of a CT scan test and the people concerned asked them that they would have to pay Rs3500 each for getting this facility as there was no free of cost CT scan facility is available at the hospital.

According to law and the direction of the CADD ministry, the CT scan facility is free of cost to the poor patients but the doctors appointed at the laboratory have been heavily charging the patients with the connivance of the PIMS administration.

The patient told Daily Times that Technician Syed  Hassnain In Charge of the morning shift at the PIMS was the main culprit, who has been charging the poor patients by creating a lot of hurdles for them and at last the patients are compelled to graft him against the facility which is free of cost under the laws.

Hassnain has been working at the PIMS on deputation for the last many years and he had allegedly  developed a very close connection with the senior administration of the PIMS and due to his ties with the PIMS administration, the  CADD ministry has also failed to repatriate him to his parent department that is the Government of KP despite the Supreme Court’s orders to send back all the deputationists to their original departments, the source told Daily Times.

The head of Radiology, Dr Shazia, told Daily Times that she was well aware about the illegal activities of Hassnain who was playing havoc with the poor patients and a high level committee had been formed on the complaints against him.

She also told this scribe that disciplinary action would be initiated against him after receiving the findings of the committee and elaborated that charging Rs 3500 for a CT scan was an illegal practice that must be discouraged and the PIMS administration should also come out from hibernation.

While talking with Daily Times the PIMS Executive Director, Professor Dr Javed Akram, said that action would be taken against all those people who were charging the poor patients for a CT Scan test as it was a free of cost medical facility being provided to the sick and needy persons who belong to the poor segment of the society.