I want to draw your attention towards the indifference and lukewarm treatment meted out to employees of the Punjab Government in different public sector hospitals in Punjab. There is one hospital named Services Hospital Lahore specifically nominated for government employees but, generally speaking, these public servants are humiliated everywhere in different hospitals in Punjab. An officer of the provincial government has to undergo an ordeal along with other fellows to get treatment in government hospitals.
The provincial government of Punjab failed to come up with a plan to facilitate its employees and they are forced to visit private clinics of consultants to get their attention which is a financial burden for nothing. I would like to mention here that if a government employee goes to Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) for treatment of cardiac problem, he/she is asked to come after 6 months or a year but if he wants to be considered as private patient, he/she is immediately entertained. Doctors in the hospitals have become currency printing machines and the government has become a silent spectator on the situation.
One of my friends who is a pharmacist was advised to undergo a coronary artery bypass grafting at PIC immediately by a consultant a few years ago. When he reached the hospital, he was advised to come after 6 months after the docket identified him as a government servant.
Having said all this, I must appreciate Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital here as there is no difference between a poor patient and a paying private patient over there. Kudos to Imran Khan for making this hospital as it is a model for other hospitals in the public and private sector. Could the Chief Minister Punjab please take steps to revamp the hackneyed old rotten health care system? This would make the people of the province indebted to him.
FAROOQ BASHIR BUTT
Lahore
