Major disparity revealed in medicine budgets for public hospitals

2026-02-18 - 01:13

A significant imbalance has been uncovered in the medicine budgets allocated to eight major public hospitals in Lahore. According to budget documents, Mayo Hospital — one of Asia’s largest healthcare facilities with 2,800 beds — has been allocated the lowest per-bed annual budget. The hospital has been assigned only Rs 476,000 per bed annually. In contrast, Punjab Institute of Cardiology has been allocated more than Rs 3.29 million per bed. Similarly, Punjab Institute of Neurosciences has been given Rs 3 million per bed. Other allocations include: Services Hospital: Rs 857,000 per bed, Jinnah Hospital: Rs 727,000 per bed, General Hospital: Rs 819,000 per bed, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital: Rs 1.946 million per bed, Kot Khawaja Saeed Hospital: Rs 2.4 million per bed, Medical experts say that the unequal distribution of the budget is causing shortages of medicines in larger hospitals, disproportionately affecting poor patients. Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique stated that ensuring fair distribution of budgets across all public hospitals is a top priority. He added that from the next fiscal year, a new budget formula will be introduced based on the number of beds and patient load at each hospital.