As many as 200,000 patients visit the outdoor, indoor and emergency units at the Sadiqabad Tehsil Headquarters Hospital each year; however the budget for medicines is only Rs3.5 million, the hospital’s registrar told The Express Tribune.
He said that there weren’t enough medical facilities available. Empty hospital beds lined the wards, the paramedics and grade-4 staff lived in dilapidated quarters and the sanitation arrangements were deplorable, he said.
The hospital built to cater to a population of 400,000, has 60 beds.
Muhammad Umair, a patient, said, “There is always a shortage of medicines at the hospital. We have to buy them elsewhere.”
Muhammad Kamran, another patient, said even the patients admitted to the hospital had to purchase medicines and syringes.
Another patient at the hospital, Azam Ali, said patients were usually given first aid and referred to Rahim Yar Khan’s Shaikh Zayed Hospital.
“There is also a shortage of X-Ray films at the hospital,” he said.
“If the government neglects public hospitals in urban centres, one can imagine how bad the situation would be at rural health centres,” Ali said.
The government should also take note of the deplorable situation of the Sadiqabad THQ hospital and ensure the provision of facilities, he said.
A staff member said that the hospital’s boundary walls had been damaged and the staff quarters were decrepit.
Patients said the hospital must take action to ensure the availability of staff at the hospital. Hospital Medical Superintendent Qamarul Qayum Tariq told The Express Tribune that the allegations were false.
He said medicines and facilities including X-Rays, blood bank, labour room and emergency services were available round the clock. The staff’s living quarters too were in good condition. An estimate of the cost of maintenance of staff quarters had been sent to the government five months ago, their renovation would start once the funds were released, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2013.