Practice of giving priority to some patients over others by staff and influential people is going on with impunity in the outdoor patients department (OPD) of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
In the OPD, the patients are supposed to be checked on first come first served basis, as they are assigned numbers on their entry into the hospital but the patients without any reference in the hospital have to wait for hours for their ‘turn’, while those with reference go straight into the doctors’ rooms.
Muhammad Arsalan, a patient in pulmonology department of OPD, said that he came to the hospital at 9am and got registered immediately for checkup. He said that he waited for three-and-a-half hours for his turn as more than 50 patients accompanied by PIMS staffers got consultation from the doctor on priority basis. “Three ‘privileged’ patients were checked by the doctor when I was sitting in the doctor’s room on my turn,” he added. Raja Saleem, another patient who was going home unattended, said that he waited for his turn for more than three hours, but was going home disheartened without being checked. He said some patients come to the OPD with PIMS staff and get immediately checked, while the others just keep on waiting. He said that two patients came with a police officer and directly went into the doctor’s room. “When I tried to protest this practice, the man sitting on the door of the doctor’s room misbehaved with me. Therefore, I am going home now,” he added.
On condition of anonymity, a receptionist of the OPD said he, and other receptionists, could do nothing in this regard. He said that it was the responsibility of the administration to control the staffers and put an end to favouritism, but to no avail. The patients demanded that higher authorities concerned take notice of the situation in the OPD of the PIMS and facilitate all patients.
