JI rejects proposed outsourcing of healthcare services

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Sunday rejected the Punjab government's decision to privatise rural health centres (RHCs), basic health units (BHUs), and hospitals across the province.

Speaking at a joint press conference at Mansoora alongside a delegation of doctors, Rehman announced his party’s full support for the demands put forth by the Grand Health Alliance (GHA).

Criticising the government's move to outsource healthcare facilities, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman warned that such a decision would lead to a contractor raj, where the primary condition would be the prominent display of CM’s photographs and name at these centres. He said that the outsourcing initiative was a veiled attempt to reward political favourites rather than reform the health sector.

‘The Sharif family’s quest for unchecked power continues. After playing kings, they now wish to crown themselves as queens,’ Rehman said, adding that previous privatisation experiments, such as outsourcing thousands of schools in Punjab, had failed miserably.

Flanked by GHA leaders, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman declared that JI would not allow the Punjab government to ambush the healthcare sector. He demanded the government focus on addressing the people’s issues.

‘First they devastated agriculture and farmers through their flawed and anti-people policies; now they are set on destroying the health sector,’ he said. ‘Family dynasties have established monopolies over governance, and they want to run the country like a personal kingdom.’

Issuing a stern warning, Rehman said the government would face severe consequences nationwide if it resorted to illegal or unethical tactics to suppress the peaceful protests and marches of doctors and paramedics.

He challenged the CM to explain why the outsourcing plan involved terminating thousands of employees from the health sector. ‘The decline in education, health, and other critical sectors is not the fault of doctors or paramedical staff. It is the result of the misrule by the government,’ Naeem ur Rehman asserted.

‘This endless game of musical chairs between families has destroyed Pakistan’s institutions. The economic collapse we see today is due to govt’s corruption and that of its political partners.’

Expressing concern over the government’s apathy, he pointed out that it has been 23 days since the GHA began sit-in protest, yet the Punjab government has shown no willingness to listen to the healthcare workers' demands. ‘Instead, it continues to adopt a tyrannical approach,’ he said.

Concluding his remarks, he appealed to doctors and paramedical staff to continue providing healthcare services to the general public during their protests, emphasising that patients must not suffer due to the government’s intransigence.