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Chairman Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani presides over a meeting at Parliament House, Islamabad, on February 28, 2025. — Screengrab via Facebook@NationalAssemblyOfPakistan
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ISLAMABAD: Due to economic obstacles, the convenience program has been suspended in Islamabad and other federal areas, which has raised concerns among patients who rely on it for free medical treatment.
The development came out during a meeting on the Standing Committee for Health of the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The committee chaired by Dr Mahesh Kumar Milani reviewed the situation and called on the government to take immediate steps to restore it. The meeting was attended by Secretary Health Nadeem Mehboob, CEO of the Sahitya Facility Program Mohammad Irshad, and other senior officials.
Secretary Health Nadeem Mehboob made it clear that the program has not been saved in Islamabad but is suspended due to lack of financial support. He informed the committee that since January 2024, the government has not released funds, making it impossible for private hospitals to provide free treatment.
Mohammad Irshad, the CEO of the Confrontation Program, explained that the program was universal by 2023, which allows patients to get their national identity cards only by offering their national identity cards.
However, due to financial difficulties, the service has been suspended in Islamabad. He said that Punjab, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are still running. Irshad said that under the Sahitya Facility Program, Heart Bypass Surgery PKR was covered up to 400,000. However, with suspension, patients now face the full cost of such a procedure, which is between PKR 2.4 and 2.5 million in private hospitals. He stressed that the program was a lifeline for backward patients.
Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Shahram Khan Turkey explained that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has developed its procedure to maintain the scheme. Punjab has also maintained its implementation. However, concerns about the transparency of the program were raised in Tharparkar, where the absence of auditors has created accountability issues.
During the meeting, Tarakai pointed out that if public hospitals are providing better health care services, the program will not be required. He argued that due to inadequate facilities in public hospitals, people are forced to get treatment in private institutions, which makes the program necessary for the poor.
Another important agenda of this meeting was “a patient, an ID” move, a digital system aimed at maintaining patients’ records. The Executive Director of PIMS Hospital expressed concern over the implementation of the system, saying that the hospital staff was struggling to adopt it.
Rana Imran Sikandar, who hails from Pums Hospital, revealed that the system has created difficulties in management of patients’ sales, laboratory test reports and other essential medical records. He emphasized that the system is being managed by the National IT Board (NITB), whose staff does not have a direct affiliation with PIMS. Secretary Health Nadeem Mehboob advised that all hospitals in Islamabad should adopt a united patient’s identity system to ensure smooth medical record management.
However, he acknowledged that the system currently has many flaws and has requested additional manpower for a month to solve these problems.
At the end of the meeting, Chairman Dr. Mahesh Kumar directed that a separate session be held in particular to discuss the Confrontation Program and its future.
He also directed the Ministry of Health to take immediate steps to solve the problems around the “one patient, an ID” system and ensure proper training for doctors.
