ISLAMABAD: Poor pregnant women are passing through a great ordeal as they are forced to stand in long queues for hours outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Department of Gynecology, for getting medical cards.
The patients reached the facility in the wee hours of the day and stood in the long queues, as the cards were only provided for about two hours each day. A large number of patients had to return home empty-handed by the end of the day, despite waiting for hours in long queues.
Therefore, the patients were often asked to return the next day by hospital administration, which could not only prove fatal for the unborn babies, but also for the pregnant women who visited the area from remote areas.
The administrations of the hospitals have not been able to provide effective treatment to pregnant women due to work over load, mismanagement and rude attitude of lady doctors, coupled with shortage of senior doctors.
Talking to Pakistan Today, the patients said that despite being charged heavily, the services providing in the PIMS gynecology department were quite ordinary due to which they suffered enormous problems.
They complained that the officials in the gynecology department in connivance with pharmaceutical companies were looting the poor patients with both hands. The patients said that the pharmaceutical companies adjusted their own people in the gynecology department, who were present there round the clock to loot the poor gullible.
They were of the view that whenever the patients needed medicines, they instantly appeared and offered their services to bring medicines for them. However, in rare cases the whole medicines were used and the officials kept the medicines to be resold to other patients.
They demanded that indoor pharmacy facility should be established so that the patients should not go outside the hospital to fetch medicines.
Shahid Abbasi, whose wife was admitted in the gynecology department, said that his wife experienced complications while delivering her first baby, therefore, he was really anxious for his wife this time around.
However, Abbasi said that he was caught by surprise when he came to know that the senior doctors were making mere rounds, while the junior graduates were performing complicated operations without any supervision.
A senior nurse, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told this scribe that senior doctors, including those on night duties often remained absent from the wards or were busy talking with family and friends over their mobile phones. She also said that a normal delivery could cost around Rs 7,000, while the C-Section could cost between Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000, which was the reason why doctors preferred the latter option to make some money.
When this scribe contacted PIMS Executive Director Dr Altaf Ahmed, he informed that there was always a rush in the hospital and at any given time at least four patients were on the waiting list to get admission to the wards. Due to this, the bedding capacity at the hospital was increased from 125 to 150 beds.
He said that around 600 patients were in the line at all times, as other patients occupied beds, emergency department, labour room or post labour rooms. The hospital cannot cope with this situation with limited resources.
To a question about the timing of issuance of cards, he said that if the patients were allowed the entire day to get cards, it would further complicate things for the hospital administration due to non-availability of resources.
