Pakistan Chemist and Druggist Association (PCDA) NWFP on Thursday vowed to resist the privatisation and handing over of three major hospitals of the province to German NGO (GTZ), saying it would directly affect the poor segment of society.
Addressing a press conference here at Peshawar Press Club (PPC), Muhammad Iqbal, general secretary of the association's NWFP chapter expressed the fear that after the handing over of the affairs of the hospitals to the non-government organisation the fee of outdoor patients (OPD) would increase from Rs 5 to Rs 100 while admission fee would jump from Rs 100 to Rs 500.
Criticising the decision of the provincial government, he said that the NGO concerned has arranged a number of MMA official's visit to Germany to level ground for accomplishment of their objectives.
He vowed that Pakistan Chemist and Druggist Association would resist the move and would never let the department of health to take such anti-poor step. In this connection, he said that the association through Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) had also sought time for holding a meeting with Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani.
During the meeting, he said the chemists would brief the chief minister on the situation and would request the closure of the pharmacy shops in hospitals within a period of ten days and prevention of the privatisation of the hospitals to the German NGO. Otherwise, they threatened a province-wide protest campaign against the decision of the government. The responsibility of any untoward incident, he said would rest with the provincial government.