LAHORE: The health department has removed the chairman of the Board of Commissioners (BoCs) of the Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) and other members, allegedly in a bid to jeopardise the autonomy of the top body regulating over 70,000 public and private sector registered healthcare establishments across the province.

The nine-member board was constituted during the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government in October 2022 when Prof Dr Yasmin Rashid was the health minister.

An official privy to the information says that the move came reportedly when a health department officer briefed the ruling PML-N Punjab government that a PTI MNA Dr Azimud Din Zahid Lakhvi and a senior journalist Sami Ibrahim, who had a soft corner for Imran Khan’s party, were among the board commissioners.

Mentioning another factor leading to the commissioners’ removal, he said, the board had almost completed a massive exercise to regulate, for the first time, the pricing framework of the private hospitals of Punjab.

PMA to stage sit-in against the decision from 24th

The official says that a proposal in this regard was prepared to determine the actual costs incurred by hospitals under different heads, including the costs of consultations, hospital stays, procedures, diagnostics, and fees of surgeons and anesthesiologists.

Under the proposed draft, he says, the PHC BoCs was to standardise prices based on costs and hospital quality with the prime objective of regulating the prices and improving healthcare access and affordability for the private patients.

The official says the move to dismantle the board was being planned for months as a senior health department officer reportedly wanted amendments to the PHC Act through the provincial assembly in order to get ‘numerical dominance’ of the members of his choice in the nine-member commission.

It is being apprehended that if the move materialises, the senior officer will be in a position to appoint the chairman of his choice, he adds.

The official says that Punjab’s former chief secretary Salman Siddique had tendered his resignation as a board member in June 2024, allegedly in protest against the “move aimed to grab powers” through amending the PHC Act.

Through a notification issued here on Thursday, PHC’s BoCs chairman ex-chief justice Bilal Khan and other commissioners, including educationist Dr Talat Afza, senior urologist Prof Dr Riaz Tasneem, Bank of Punjab ex-president Hamesh Khan and Dr Shafiq Pitafi have been removed before the expiry of their three-year tenure, which was to end in November 2025.

Under the PHC Act, 2010, promulgated by the provincial legislature, the PHC was established in October 2011 with the prime objective of improving the quality of healthcare services, unhindered by any governmental influence.

The move has particularly irked the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), which termed it one of the worst decisions of the PML-N government.

The PMA senior leaders, following an emergent meeting, held a press conference on Thursday where they announced to move the Lahore High Court against the government’s decision.

PMA president Prof Dr Ashraf Nizami said that the association would use all available options to restore the PHC’s independence.

He said that the government would have to face the music for “destroying the PHC’s autonomy just to have bureaucratic monopoly in the commission to get decisions of its choice.”

He apprehended that giving unbridled powers to government officials would be disastrous for the PHC, adding that the PMA has decided to stage a sit-in from July 24 to lodge a strong protest against the move.

“We are also going to file a petition in the LHC against the government’s decision of removing the PHC’s BoCs,” Prof Nizami announced.

Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique says the PHC BoCs was dissolved due to its “poor performance”.

The Punjab government has properly followed the rules to amend the PHC Act through the provincial assembly, he adds.

The minister says that the government officials’ role is imperative to run the PHC affairs effectively and efforts are underway to reform the BoCs by appointing officers of “good repute”.

He dispelled the impression that the Punjab government removed the commissioners with any “bad intention”.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2024