As many as 208 sanctioned posts of various categories from BPS-1 to 20 are lying vacant since long at the largest tertiary care teaching hospital of upper Sindh, PPI learnt on Saturday.
Three sanctioned posts also include of BPS-20 such as police surgeon, chief casualty medical officer and chief surgeon.
Out of 40 posts of doctors of BS-19, only 32 are filled and eight are vacant. Out of 22 posts of specialists, three are filled and 19 are vacant. Out of 344 posts of doctors of BS-17 & 18 including registrars, medical officers, senior medical officers, only 278 are filled and 66 are lying vacant.
Likewise out of 136 sanctioned posts of staff nurses, 86 are said to be filled (because other many employees are drawing monthly salaries from these posts) and 50 vacant since last over two decades and out of 1,049 sanctioned posts of paramedics 987 are filled and 62 are vacant.
Overall, out of 1,591 posts 1,386 posts are filled and 208 are vacant from BPS-1 to 20 due to which the hospital working is suffering badly.
At present one staff nurse is looking after more than 30 female patients of her ward which is very difficult to manage particularly in surgical and medicine wards.
The Chandka Medical College Hospital serves 12 districts of upper Sindh, parts of Balochistan and lower part of Punjab as well but this hospital has been neglected as far as the recruitment of doctors and other required staff is concerned due to unknown reasons as 1,352 patients remain admitted at a time and night ward duties are performed by house officers or postgraduate students instead of proper doctors and nursing care services are rendered by student nurses instead of staff nurses.
More posts of dialysis technicians should also be sanctioned along with office staff such as assistants and senior and junior clerks to further improve the working efficiency because medico-legal cases, court cases, house job matters, dispensers, OT technicians etc courses and nursing trainings are being carried out here since long and the hospital itself has expanded very much as many new wards have been opened but more proper staff has not yet been sanctioned which has created lot of work load over the existing workers.
The foundation stone of this district headquarters hospital was laid by Khuwaja Nazimuddin, the then governor general of Pakistan. It was upgraded in 1973 and renamed as CMCH.
As many as 400 beds were added in 1975 for clinical and teaching purposes.
UAE King Shaikh Zaid Bin Sultan Al-Nehyan inaugurated in 1974 the only women hospital in upper Sindh known as Shaikh Zaid Hospital for Women.
Over half a million poor people of this downtrodden area visit OPD yearly, about 75,000 of them are admitted and over 14,000 major and minor operations are conducted annually in the hospital, it is further learnt.
This hospital block buildings, bungalows, quarters and nursing hostels have become dilapidated and outdated which need repairs and renovation on emergency basis for which huge amount of M&R funds are required but the Sindh government has done nothing as yet to sanction the required budget for the same purposes.
People of Larkana have demanded that all requirements of the hospital should be met without loss of further time for the benefit of people of this remote area.