Three allied hospitals of Rawalpindi namely Benazir Bhutto Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital and Holy Family Hospital are facing an acute shortage of medicines which is greatly troubling the patients.
According to a source, the above mentioned hospitals were working under the Health Department and Allied Hospitals and Rawalpindi Medical College Authority. The source said that with the advent of the winter season the demand of medicines for sore throat, flu and fever had increased but the hospitals had been unable to meet the growing demand due to shortage of supplies. Therefore, the patients had to go to private medical stores to buy the medicines at high prices, the source added.
Expressing their views on the issue, owner of medical stores said that the increasing inflation rate had also affected the prices of medicine. One medical store owner said they were selling the medicines on the prices fixed by the medicine companies after the approval of the government.
Meanwhile, patients in emergency and Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of the hospitals were being provided the prescribed medicine, but the persons admitted in the hospitals and visiting the Out Patient Department (OPDs) were being denied the same medicines by the hospital authorities, reliable sources informed. It is important to mention here that according to the Punjab Health Department policy, medicines should be provided to all patients visiting the hospitals, but the situation on ground had been showing a completely different picture. When contacted, the hospital administrations said that shortage of the funds was the reason behind non-provision of sufficient medicines to the growing number of patients.
The sources further revealed that the medicines prescribed by the doctors were not available in the stores of the hospitals and only alternatives of the prescribed medicines were being given away to the patients.
The patients and their attendants at the three allied hospitals had expressed serious concern regarding the prevailing situation in the hospitals and demanded of the Punjab Health Department and Allied Hospitals and Rawalpindi Medical College higher ups to take practical steps to save them from further distress.
