Insufficient donations: 32,367 patients deprived of treatment

26 Jun, 2007

Provincial Zakat Council has sent the case of provision of Zakat fund of Rs 20 million to the Fatima Memorial Hospital (FMH) to Central Zakat Council in the light of report submitted by the committee constituted to fix the Estahqaq of the hospital.
This was told by the Chairman Provincial Zakat Council, Justice Muhammad Akram Baitu (Retd) while presiding over a meeting in his office, here on Monday. Muhammad Akram Baitu said that central Zakat council as a policy matter does not offer Zakat to those hospitals, which do not possess national status.
Medical Director Fatima Memorial Hospital, Professor Shamim A. Khan said that 32,367 deserving patients could not be treated due to the non-availability of sufficient donations required for their treatment. He said that FMH comprising of 48 wards is a teaching hospital, which treated 7,415 needy patients during July 2006 to March 2007 out of which 1,927 belongs to indoor whereas 5,488 were outdoor patients. He said that in 2005-06 with the total budget of Rs 210 million, Fatima Memorial Hospital provided medical cover to 137,156 Mustahqeen out of 169,523 patients.
He said that the hospital is run with donations and due to ever increase in number of patients, many of deserving patients untreated. He said that during 2001-06, 54,987 increase in patients was noted.

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