PESHAWAR: Medical Teaching Institutions Policy Board is concerned over the financial issues being faced by the tertiary care hospitals and their affiliated medical and dental colleges and has asked the government to ensure smooth flow of funds for provision of unhindered services to the patients.

“Yes, we are concerned over the financial problems being faced by the MTI-covered hospitals and the affiliated institutions. The government should release the funds for paying salaries to the employees in a timely manner,” Prof Nausherwan Burki, the chairman of MTI Policy Board, responded when asked about shortage of funds.

Prof Burki, the architect of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015, told Dawn that they had been holding virtual meetings of the policy board. He said that the chairpersons of the board of governors of MTIs were anxious about the financial issues that not only impacted payment of salaries to employees but also hampered patient care.

There are 10 tertiary care hospitals and institutions where the government has imposed MTIRA since its enforcement in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The law was the brainchild of Prof Burki, who with the support of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government passed the new law to grant financial and administrative autonomy to the institutions and free them from political interference.

Health secretary says issue has been brought into notice of finance dept

Before the imposition of new law, all the hospitals were managed by the health department like all others health facilities and instructions.

After the implementation of the new piece of legislation, the MTI-covered hospitals have slipped away from the control of health department and now the respective Board of Governors looks after their affairs independently.

A policy board has been overlooking all the MTIs and issuing them guidelines from time to time to ensure that they enforce uniform policies. The MTIs, as per law, receive one-line budget from the government and utilise it according to the needs and decisions of the respective boards.

However, with the dissolution of the provincial assembly and installation of the caretaker in the province, the MTIs have been facing severe financial issues and many of them get funds only to pay salaries to the employees.

The province’s oldest health facility, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), which was first MTI institution in the province, is in dire financial problems. The administration of LRH finds it hard to pay salaries to its 3,500 employees on time.

Officials said that the 1800-bed LRH required Rs350 million per month for salaries of its staff.

They said that shortage of funds was affecting patient care. They said that the hospital was constantly demanding release of funds already approved for it in the budget documents.

Situation with regard to funding isn’t different in other MTIs where the respective administrations are finding it hard to provide free medicines to critically-ill patients even at the accident and emergency departments.

The caretaker government has made attempts to do away with policy board and BoGs but notifications issued in this regard have been dismissed by the court.

Health Secretary Mehmood Aslam, when contacted, said that they had been sending all their demands to the finance department, which was required to take decisions.

“Health department has been supporting the MTIs and other hospitals to improve patient care and will continue its efforts in this regard,” he said. He said that steps were afoot to facilities patients not only in MTIs but throughout the province by making sure that all the health facilities got funds for salaries and medical supplies. “There is no issue of funds in non-MTIs,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2023