With the Young Doctor’s Association (YDA) observing a strike at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), it is feared that the second major public sector hospital in the capital, Poly Clinic, will face a severe shortage of the medicines and funds in the coming days, as it is now dealing with 800 to 1,000 patients daily in the emergency, while previously the number was around 200 to 300.
The YDA, which locked down almost all sections of PIMS, has been protesting for the last one-and-a-half month for enhanced basic pay scales and improved service structure.
On Wednesday, the doctors performed duties only in the emergency ward of the hospital while other services, including the OPD, operation theatres, children hospital, mother and child centre and other departments remained closed.
An official at the Poly Clinic, who wished not to be named, told Pakistan Today, “If the ongoing strike of doctors at the PIMS does not come to an end soon, the Poly Clinic would face serious shortage of medicines as well as funds.”
He SAID the medicine stock was being consumed at an unprecedented rate. “So far we are utilising the hospital’s budget but we would definitely need extra funds to mange the expenses of the whole year,” said the official.
“We are receiving 80 to 100 delivery cases in every 24 hours. Some of them got C-section, which is a costly procedure. Earlier we were receiving only 30 to 40 delivery cases, but now we have to depute doctors for extra time.”
When contacted, Polyclinic spokesman Dr Shareef Astori verified the reports about possible shortage of medicine and funds and said they would move a summary to get extra funds. He hoped that the ongoing tussle between the young doctors and the government would come to an end, resulting in easing the pressure on the Poly Clinic.
Talking about the provision of emergency at PIMS, he said, “There is a general perception that the entire hospital is shut down and the doctors do not visit the emergency services, that’s why people prefer to visit the Poly Clinic in emergency cases.”
He said they avoided joining the strike to serve the poor people and if they had chosen to do so, the poor patients would have not choice but to seek treatment at expensive private facilities
When contacted, Dr Taqqi Anwer, a representative of the YDA in PIMS, said, “Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi gave us the assurance that the president would approve the draft by Friday; therefore, we will call off the strike as soon as we hear the good news.”
