Pims Partially Pauses Treatment Under Health Card Scheme
by Hamna Bano
SHARES
The future of the health card scheme launched by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2015 seems uncertain, as some medical treatments available for patients under Pims Hospital have been suspended.
The ENT department, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, general surgery, and orthopedic have stopped admitting patients.
Conversely, the Mother and Child, Burn Centre, Children Hospital, and Cardiac Centre are still running and catering to patients and their needs.
The Health Card facilities for PIMS Islamabad have been partially suspended due to an apparent lack of supplies.
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Sajid Shah, the spokesperson of the National Ministry of Health Sciences after contacting Executive Director (ED) Dr. Naeem Malik blamed the vendor who was ‘not providing supplies’.
“The issue has been settled” he claimed when promising the resumption of routine services within a few days. An unidentified official of the Pims Hospital said that “Services under health card were suspended in the Islamabad Hospital located inside Pims. A number of surgeries and procedures have been halted.“
He added ”We have heard that the bill could not be paid to the vendor due to which it has stopped supplies. We urge the hospital management and Ministry of Health to address the issue so that the services could be resumed.”
Sajid Shah said that the ED Pims Dr. Naeem Malik had informed him that the procedures were on hold due to the negligence of the vendor as it could not provide the supplies on time.
“Considering the situation, the vendor has been changed. The Health Ministry fully owns the programme and it will ensure that the program would run without any interruptions”, he further added.
It must be mentioned here that Nawaz Sharif introduced this health card scheme for the residents of Islamabad in 2015. Claims were also made to expand this to other parts of Balochistan, Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan, and AJK.
Since the beginning of the health card scheme in 2015, the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan has been dealing with the programme. In 2021, it also won the contract for the next three years 2022 to 2025.
