THIS is with reference to the editorial `A misplaced remedy` (Jan 3) about the government`s decision to shut down all district headquarter (DHQ) hospitals.

According to the government website, Punjab has about 25 DHQs, catering to about three million people. The private sector should be able to cover this population rather happily.

Although the government`s response to the problem of absenteeism of doctors sounds as if it is absolving itself of the responsibility of sustaining whatever is there in the name of public healthcare infrastructure, the government may end up encouraging the vital sector by promoting healthy competition.

With the Sehat Sahulat programme in place, the patients have the option to choose between a private facility and a government hospital, and this should raise the standard ofhealthcare across the board.

Besides, the private sector will face the same challenge as does the public sector; finding good enough doctors willing to work in far-flung areas. We should all focus on finding the best possible solution that is likely to serve the majority of the population.

So far, the list of hospitals on the panel include top private and public-sector hospitals, but conspicuous by their absence are the names of hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI), including that of the leading cancer hospital that has been set up by the prime minister himself in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Even the only JCI-accredited hospital in Islamabad is not on the panel. Although these hospitals are already providing healthcare to the underprivileged patients under their own systems, it seems that the best of the best are still not part of the government`s programme.

Perhaps this could prove a test case forthe Sehat Sahulat programme to see if it can manage optimisation of limited resources while also maintaining high quality of services for all.

With the experience of KP behind us, we also know that hospitals require close monitoring to ensure that they are not charging patients unfairly.

The idea of Sehat Sahulat programme for a developing country sounds too good to be true. We can make it a functional reality, but will we? MariamKhan Lahore