- Employees of six units of Punjab MHUs await salaries
ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government had launched six Mobile Health Units (MHUs) back in 2010 to provide diagnostic and treatment facilities to the people of six under-developed districts of the province, but no addition has been made in the MHUs’ fleet despite a lapse of seven years.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in its elections manifesto 2013 claimed, “At least 1,000 mobile health units will be launched to provide basic health facilities to remote areas and isolated localities. These will be manufactured locally to reduce cost and creating employment opportunities. Critical care units shall be established in each Tehsil headquarters’ hospital.”
The MHUs were equipped with facilities like X-ray, ultrasound machine, ECG equipment, a laboratory for common blood and urine tests, labour room, facility of vaccination for children, as well as a small operation theatre.
Each unit was staffed with two doctors (male and female), lady health visitor dispenser, and laboratory technicians to target areas where outreach services were required.
According to the sources, initially, the provincial government launched six MHUs in southern districts and later decided to extend the scheme to all tehsils of the province under a phased programme by launching 100 more MHUs in 2011 and 200 in 2012. PML-N in its 2013 manifesto announced that it would take the number of MHUs to 1,000.
The six MHUs were launched in Rajanpur, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Muzzafargarh, Mianwali and Dera Ghazi Khan districts for providing treatment to patients at their doorsteps.
However, despite a lapse of seven years and the government’s tall claims of its success not a single MHU has been added to the program that raised many eyebrows about the effectiveness of the program.
A senior official working with the program on condition of anonymity told Pakistan Today that the effectiveness of the program could be judged from the fact that the employees did not receive their salaries for the last two months.
The official said that the launching of mobile health units was a good decision and these MHUs are providing healthcare to the people of remote areas; however since it was outsourced it lost its efficacy because the private company did not pay salaries for months due to which the greatly disappointed employees are taking little interests in their duties.
The official further said that the provincial government’s move to outsource these health facilities to private firms proved counter-productive because the poor patients were being provided substandard medicines.
Currently, a Lahore based private firm Medi Urge operates the six units, which according to sources pays its employees very low salaries and has given them no incentive for the last two years.
Another official working with the program said that the company audit report of 2017 should be made public and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should carry out accountability of the company.
He requested Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of the situation as the good initiative tuned into a complete failure due to which they left with no option but to stop their operation if their problems were not being addressed at the earliest.
When this scribe contacted Punjab Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Khawaja Salman Rafique he was redirected to Punjab Primary and Secondary Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan, who was not available for comment despite repeated efforts.
When approached, the In-charge of the Program Colonel (r) Akram said that if the employees did not get the salaries for two months it was not that big an issue as they have been paid regularly for the last seven years.
About the recruitments, he said that they could appoint anyone whether he/she had two years’ experience or 20 years and regardless of their educational qualification.
About extension of the program, he said that the provincial government had given approval of the extension of the program and in the second phase, 20 MHUs would be added to the program, while in third phase the number would be taken to 100 MHUs; however he quickly added that it could take two to three months to materialise.
However, on being asked about the company audit and not paying the lower workers as per labour laws, the program incharge got furious and refused to answer further questions.
