- Hospital gives a look of a refugee camp as the attendants of patients have set up tents on lawn of the facility to take cover in heat and downpours since there is no shed.
ISLAMABAD: Owing to the unabated political wrangling and apathy of the government, the overcrowding of patients and impolite behaviour of the staff, coupled with unhygienic conditions, has made Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) an epicentre of all problems.
The PIMS, being the largest hospital in the federal capital, where daily around 10,000 patients are visiting from all over the country, was known for providing quality healthcare facility to the patients. However, at present, the health facilities provided in the hospital are quite ordinary.
The hospital gives a look of a refugee camp as the attendants of patients, who come from far-flung areas, have set up their tents on the lawn of the facility to take cover in scorching heat and downpours since there is no shed for the patients’ attendees.
A cursory visit to the hospital revealed weary looks in patient’s eyes and visible agony on their attendants’ faces as they stood helplessly in the time of need. The agony and the distress on the faces of the visitors to the facility were mainly caused by the pathetic conditions at the hospital and behaviour of the doctors as well as the paramedical staff.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Muhammad Farid, a resident of Haripur whose wife was admitted to the hospital, said that he brought her wife to the facility with a hope of better treatment. However, he was shocked to see the arrangements here as there is no one for patients to look after them.
He lamented that the senior doctors are only making rounds in the morning and the patients are left the whole day at the mercy of the junior doctors and nurses who behave quite rudely.
Javed Abbasi, whose relative was admitted in Medical Ward-III, said that there is an acute shortage of beds as his patient has been on a stretcher for the last three days due to non-availability of a bed. He said that despite repeated requests they were not provided bed due to which the patient is in great trouble.
Khurram Shehzad, a resident of Rawalpindi, lashed out at the staff of the emergency and said that they are just running to and fro rather than properly treating the patients. He deplored that despite being the largest hospital, the situation at the emergency is quite pathetic as it is congested and unhygienic, adding to the patients’ woes.
Another patient at Ward No-II complained of the poor hygienic condition in the ward and said that no one bothers to collect the garbage lying on the floor and even the bed sheets are not changed, which are causing problems for patients, adding that doctors’ attitude is satisfying and cooperative.
However, he complained that the poor people sleeping on the lawn are often looted of precious commodities including mobile phones at nights.
Another complainant Shehzad Ahmed said that he had to wait for two painful days to get his 9-year-old daughter operated because he had no reference. He added that she was operated only after her appendix had burst due to which her condition was quite critical, and she could not eat anything since the poison had spread in the whole body.
The poor father humbly requested that the doctors at the hospital should check the patients irrespective of the fact that they are from rich family or poor because there is no difference in the pain they suffer.
When contacted, State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said that at the time when the hospital was constructed the OPD had to meet need of 500 patients, which now mounted to 10,000, as people from Jehlum, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) are also visiting the facility.
He said that there would not be such a rush to the hospital if the hospitals in the periphery were working with full potential. He added that they have taken a number of steps to ease the patients’ woes, as a new emergency and pathology department have been established, besides working on new wards.
He also vowed that they would set up a burn unit and will construct a new trauma centre in the hospital, adding that a PC-1 of around Rs16 billion has been submitted for the upgrade of the hospital.
To a question, he said that they are working on a formula to bring all Basic Health Units (BHUs) and Rural Health Centers (RHC) under CADD ministry in order to provide best health facilities to the dwellers of the city.
