Aliya Bibi, 30, is a local resident of Nasir Bagh Road, Peshawar. She was brought to Naseer Teaching Hospital on Wednesday having severe problems in breathing. She claims that she was charged with Rs 300 for the patient slip number 200325042 by the OPD. On normal days, the hospital charges Rs 100 per slip.
Upon being confronted, the receptionist Ali Akbar told her that “it’s administration’s decision to increase the price from Rs 100 to Rs 300 due to Corona outbreak”.
When asked about the notification, they refused to show it to Aliya Bibi and also refused to give her the receipt of Rs 300. Aliya says that earning money has become even more difficult for the poor people these days due to the Corona lockdown and such an unlawful increase in the medical checkup fee at ‘charity hospitals’ is adding to their problems.
According to Gandhara University’s website, Naseer Teaching Hospital, established in the early 1980s, was funded and run by a German organization as an Orthopedic and Trauma hospital for the Afghan war affectees, mostly victims of mine injuries. However, after the Afghan war was over, there was still the need for a hospital that would look after the displaced Afghan community in Pakistan. So the idea of establishing a hospital for the local population and the refugees on a charity basis was coined by the founder of Gandhara University, Prof Muhammad Kabir, in 1995.
When contacted on his office landline, Fahad Khan, an administration official at Naseer Teaching Hospital, claimed that it was a private hospital and the administration had decided to increase the price of patient slip due to Corona outbreak. Declaring the issue an internal matter of the hospital, he said that the administration was not answerable to any authority as it did not get any funds from the government.
When asked if the hospital was paying taxes as a commercial entity, he refused to comment.
Naseer Teaching Hospital is a 250-bed charity hospital that provides training facilitates to undergraduate and graduate students in the medical field. The hospital is recognized as a teaching hospital by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council since 1997 and is registered with the department of health, the government of Pakistan.
Rehan Gul is another local resident who told Naya Daur that he had also paid a thousand rupees for a prescription the other day when he took his ailing son to Naseer Teaching Hospital.
PS: Names of the patients have been changed in order to protect their privacy.