• These hospitals have been directed to make 20 non-profit beds functional within 48 hours
• These include beds of the high-dependency units as well.
• It is pertinent to mention here that these beds would be from the mandatory quota of non-profit 35 per cent of the total number of beds

LAHORE: The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has directed all private teaching hospitals of the province to make arrangements for the allocation of at least 20 non-profit beds for dengue patients.

According to a directive issued here on Saturday, these hospitals have been directed to make 20 non-profit beds functional within 48 hours upon receiving a notice from the PHC. These include beds of the high-dependency units as well.

“To ensure the implementation of the directions, authorised officers of the PHC would be visiting the hospitals from time to time,” read the letter, while issuing a warning of the penal consequences in case of non-compliance.

It is pertinent to mention here that these beds would be from the mandatory quota of non-profit 35 per cent of the total number of beds, which is in terms of Recognition Standard 4.2 of the Medical and Dental Council ‘Initial Recognition Framework For Medical and Dental Schools in Pakistan-2019’.

On September 19, the PHC had fixed the price of the ELISA dengue test at Rs1,500.

According to a directive issued to all private laboratories, collection centres and hospital labs of the province, the maximum price of the ELISA dengue NS-1, IgG and IgM test had been fixed at Rs1,500.

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Also, all the entities, both providing the testing facilities and collecting samples, had been directed not to charge more than the fixed rate. They had been also further directed to mention the machine being used for the test, reagents and kits with their certification, and lastly, individual batch numbers as well. They had also been directed that the reporting time should not be more than 24 hours.

On September 19, a consultative meeting was held here at the PHC office with representatives of the leading laboratories, chaired by Chief Executive Officer PHC Dr Muhammad Saqib Aziz, wherein the consensus was reached to reduce the prices of dengue-related tests in the larger public interest to Rs 1,500.