Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif paid a surprise visit to District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Nankana Sahib without protocol on Sunday.
The CM reached Nankana Sahib in an ordinary van without any prior information. Even the administration, media and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) office bearers were unaware about his visit. Sharif visited different wards and inquired after the patients and asked them about treatment facilities in the hospital. He also reviewed medical facilities being extended to the patients in the hospital. He personally checked x-ray machine and other medical equipment. The patients and their attendants told the CM that free medicines are available to them, but air conditioners are not functioning. The CM went to different wards, expressed indignation over nonfunctioning of air conditioners and asked from administrative officers and doctors about the availability of air conditioners in their houses.
“Can they work in this heat and suffocation without air conditioners?” he questioned. He ordered immediate replacement of non-functional air conditioners in the hospital and said it is lamented that there is no AC in the general ward. He said that this is not less than a criminal negligence in the month of Ramzan and tantamount to cruelty against patients. He said that he had allocated resources of two billion rupees for air conditioners in the hospitals of Punjab in 2011.
Upon seeing empty beds in the wards of the hospital, Sharif asked about it from the doctors who replied that due to hot weather the patients do not visit the hospital. The CM said that the patients will visit the hospital if air conditioners are functional for the patients. He said that doctors serving the ailing humanity will be fully encouraged and added that a prize of five lakh rupees has been awarded to Dr Adnan Qaiser of Sheikhupura on his good performance. The chief minister directed to shift the patients suffering from complexities to separate wards. He expressed indignation over poor cleanliness condition and unavailability of necessary facilities, reprimanded hospital administration, and directed to immediately improve hygiene condition in the hospital.
He expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of DCO, MS DHQ Hospital and EDO Health and said that it is their responsibility to provide best medical facilities to the patients in the hospital, which they failed to discharge. Sharif expressed sorrow over the arrangements being taken with regard to the provision of facilities on his visit to the hospital. The CM took a strict action on non-provision of proper facilities to the patients in DHQ Hospital Nankana Sahib and ordered the transfer of DCO, EDO Health and MS DHQ Hospital.
He also addressed the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff present in the hospital and said that they will also be answerable to Allah. “How come a person who is not serving the people could be called as a messiah?” he questioned. He said that Punjab government is spending billions of rupees on the provision of quality medical facilities to the people and improving the condition of the hospitals and added that incorrect use of these resources is a crime. He said that people should benefit at all costs from the fruits of the resources of billions of rupees provided for the improvement of medical facilities in the hospitals. He said that now administration of the hospitals will have to set the matters of the hospitals right and ensure the provision of best medical facilities to the masses.
Sharif said that he has taken the responsibility of improving the performance of the hospitals and people will see the results within one year. He also checked the stock register of medicines and expressed indignation over dissatisfactory reply regarding the record of medicines provided to the patients during the previous week. He inspected dialysis centre of the hospital. He reprimanded hospital administration on miserable condition of medical store and said that it is their collective responsibility to improve the facilities in the hospital. Despite severe heat and suffocation, the CM reviewed medical facilities for three hours in the hospital.
