ISLAMABAD: A number of hospitals have stopped providing services under the government’s Health Card programme due to payment issues.

Even the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Cardiac Centre has stopped implanting stents for the last over one week as the vendor has refused to provide stents due to non-payment of bills of over Rs100 million.

On the other hand, the Ministry of National Health Services spokesperson, Sajid Shah, said he had not received any complaint about the non-payment of bills, and that if citizens were facing any issue, they should contact the ministry.

Under the Qaumi Sehat Card and Sehat Sahulat Programme, citizens can avail medical facilities including open heart surgeries, insertion of stents, management of cancer, neurosurgical procedures, burn management, accident management, dialysis, intensive care management, deliveries, C-section and other medical and surgical procedures up to Rs1 million per family, per year.

Pims Cardiac Centre refuses to implant stents; spokersperson says citizens should lodge complaints with ministry

The health card holder can avail the facility from over 600 empanelled hospitals in the country.

Since the start of the health card facility in 2015, the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan has been dealing with the cards and last year it again won the contract for the next three years (2022 to 2025).

Currently, 100pc population of Islamabad, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan is entitled to get free treatment.

Talking to Dawn, the owner of Rawal General and Dental Hospital (RGDH) Islamabad, Khaqan Waheed Khawaja, said a number of private hospitals, including his hospital, had stopped providing treatment under the health card.

“First of all we do not get the payments for the treatment. Secondly the amount for each of the procedure is too little. The health card provides Rs15,000 for a delivery but that amount is not sufficient, which is why a number of private hospitals have stopped providing treatment under the health card facility,” he said.

Replying to a question, Mr Khawaja said during the current week he held a meeting with representatives of private hospitals and it was decided that they would meet again on Tuesday (April 5) to take a final decision on health cards.

“I believe that the government should not have provided the facility to 100pc population rather it should have been only extended it to the underprivileged,” he added.

Shahid Nazir, a resident of Islamabad, while talking to Dawn, said he took his 65-year-old brother-in-law, Mohamad Asghar, to Pims Cardiac Centre, but the doctors told him that stents could not be implanted as the vendor had stopped providing them the stents.

“Doctors told me that they had implanted a number of stents during the last few months but now the vendor has stopped providing stents and other tools for procedures as his bills have not been cleared,” he said.

Pims Young Doctors Association Chairman Dr Haider Abbasi, while talking to Dawn, said he himself observed that a number of doctors refused to treat patients under the health card programme.

“I personally did a number of endoscopies under the health card and then learnt that the bills have not been cleared,” Dr Abbasi, who is a gastroenterologist, said.

When contacted, Pims Director Hospital Dr Khalid Masood said he personally resolved the issue of Pims and made partial payment to the vendor who had started providing stents.

The hospital would resume the service under health card scheme and start inserting stents from Monday, he said, adding that, “some of the amount has been paid to the vendor and now anyone can visit the hospital for services”.

He said he got the charge of the hospital director two-and-a-half months ago and just four days after that “I decided to provide services under health card programme”.

According to the procedure, once a patient gets treatment the bill is sent to the insurance company and the company takes 28 days to verify and clear the bill. There was an issue in the Cardiac Centre but I personally looked into it and a chunk of amount has been released to vendor due to which the vendor has agreed to resume supply of stents,” he said.

“So far we have conducted over 1,800 procedures under the programme at Pims. Now we are going to computerise the heath card system, which will improve the service,” he said.

“There are some confusions; people want to get service at the outpatient department (OPD) but the card only covers hospitalisation. Moreover, a number of people bring their wives for treatment or deliveries but they fail to get it as they do not change the marital status of their wives in the CNIC due to which the system shows that they are not married and can only get treatment if their parents are entitled. I suggest that people should change the marital status of their wives, with National Database and Registration Authority after marriage,” Dr Masood said.

Talking to Dawn, the Ministry of National Health Services spokesperson, Sajid Shah, said he did not receive any complaint about the non-payment of bills.

“It is a huge system and there are over 20 empanelled hospitals in Islamabad. If one hospital refuses to provide treatment, patients should go to another hospital. We keep monitoring the bills, verify the amount claimed by a hospital and check whether the demand is genuine or not. If people have any complain they should contact the health ministry and their issues will be resolved,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2022