FAFEN monitors: Up to 80% of health centres lack eye care

NGO publishes monitoring report of 80 rural health centres.


Express December 27, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


More than four fifths of 80 rural health centres (RHCs) inspected by independent monitors in November lack specialised services like eye care and labour rooms, according to a report released by the Free and Fair Elections Network, a non-governmental organisation.


FAFEN monitors visited 47 health centres in 27 Punjab districts, 15 in 10 Sindh districts, nine in eight Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) districts, seven in seven Balochistan districts and two in two districts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in November.

More than a fifth of these (22 per cent) were without operation theatres for minor operations and 18 lacked labour rooms. Eighty per cent of the centres had wards for in-patients, x-ray and dental rooms and laboratories. Almost half (48%) did not have working ECG machines, 26 lacked functional x-ray machines and 27 were without power generators. Over a quarter of the RHCs lacked wheelchairs. At least 80% were equipped with stretchers, ambulances, oxygen tents, syringe cutters and sterilisers.

The monitors also interviewed patients about their experiences at the health centres, though the report did not say how many interviews were conducted in total. Thirty-seven patients, it said, complained that they had not received free medicine from the in-house pharmacy, while 20 reported being overcharged. Sixteen patients said staff demanded money for providing services.

Thirty patients seeking treatment reported that no doctors were on duty, 46 said they were not satisfied with the short time allotted to them, and 39 expressed dissatisfaction with the overall behaviour of the health practitioners. Eleven patients reported that support staff were not on duty, 22 were not satisfied with the support extended to them while 35 were not happy with the overall behaviour.

In-house pharmacies had enough stocks in all but three of the RHCs, two in KP and one in Sindh. However, they were not available for free at six health centres. Food was not provided to vulnerable groups (lactating mothers and malnourished children) in 82 per cent of the monitored RHCs. Female staff were not present to attend to female patients in 13 health centres. Advisory services to nursing mothers were not offered at 17 per cent of the monitored facilities.

At least 90 per cent of the RHCs are connected by proper roads and a similar proportion have electricity supply and fans, said the report. At least 80 per cent were clean and had boundary walls, but a quarter of them had buildings judged to be in bad condition:, eight in Punjab, five in Balochistan, four in Sindh and three in KP. Ninety-five per cent of the centres lacked Sui gas connections. Only four centres nationwide two in Sindh and one each in KP and Balochistan had gas connections.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of the monitored centres did not have telephone landlines. At least 80 per cent had washrooms with running water and properly shaded waiting areas for patients. More than a third (34 per cent) did not have arrangements for clean drinking water.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2011.

COMMENTS (1)

Sajida | 12 years ago | Reply

Feudals pay no taxes and rely on poor voters. They should show democracy means something by providing for proper healthcare.

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