About 20 operations are put off every day and around 60 operations have been postponed so far in a few days in 1400-bed Jinnah Hospital.
Hospital sources said that 1,000 people were treated regularly at the hospital including 300 visitors at the Emergency Department, while 30 patients on average were required to undergo surgeries. Sources said that these routine procedures were not been adhered to owing to a rise in power outages. They said that six operation theatres of the hospital had become almost dysfunctional, adding that the management had to revise the list of operations and postpone them for the next day but the same situation of load shedding arose the next day. Over 60 operations have been postponed in the last four days, they added.
Meanwhile, due to severe shortage of medicines doctors are forced to advice patients to buy medicines from the market. A doctor on condition of anonymity said that the Health Department on February 25 had made an agreement with doctors at a protest camp for the provision of medicines to patients in all public sector hospitals but despite the passage of two and a half months the promise could not be fulfilled.
When contacted, MS Dr Ijaz Shaikh said some operations were postponed due to load shedding which was also affecting all hospitals. However, he admitted the shortage of medicines and said the management was taking steps to overcome the problem.
