Quality healthcare in urban slums of Karachi.

• Author: Ahmed, Khalil

Byline: Khalil Ahmed

Pakistan and Gulf Economist approached the relevant authorities of SINA Health Education and Welfare Trust to get the first-hand knowledge about the healthcare facilities being provided by the trust. Following are the excerpts of the conversation:

With majority of the people working on daily wages, the average per day income of meagre 300 rupees, the urban slum communities in Karachi are ultra-poor and suffer from a total absence of affordable and accessible quality primary healthcare, making it a constant battle between choosing bread and butter versus obtaining treatment, and keeping them into an endless disease-poverty vicious cycle. SINA is actively changing this, and with support of generous donors plans to create an impact by establishing dedicated clinics to address the most important human need of people that prevents them from disease and death.

Primary healthcare is a basic human right which should not be denied if vulnerable population cannot afford to pay. Millions of people in Pakistan are denied basic healthcare because of their inability to pay. SINA's model removes this barrier between the community and the service, where Zakat eligible patients have to pay only PKR 20 (80-90% of the patients seen), and non-Zakat patients have to pay only PKR 50 (approx. 10-15%). This covers the cost of screening, immunization, doctor consultation, any of 130+ lab tests, ultrasound, treatment from 150+ range of medicines and referral service for tertiary care. Per visit actual cost of treatment is PKR 450+ inclusive of all services. SINA has developed a unique referral system whereby every patient who requires a specialist opinion or secondary and tertiary care gets the opportunity to have access to qualified consultants in Karachi either free or at highly subsidized rates.

Currently SINA has two referral clinics. Each year our Referral Clinic refers approx. 20,000 patients to partners for specialist consultation. SINA's greatest asset is its quality management system. This system is unique as it has adapted quality healthcare protocols used in developed healthcare systems naturalized for application in local settings. We have 80 doctors at SINA clinics (55% male and 45% female). All are trained to use this protocol system, and are continuously evaluated by a medical team of auditors right from the hiring to the practice in clinic. Their performance is evaluated every month.

SINA is a not-for-profit organization...