LGH cancelled the weekly Sunday holiday of all hospital staff including administrative doctors in order to do the clean-up work.
Health Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu has given teaching hospitals three days to improve cleaning arrangements and remove stagnant water at their premises to prevent an outbreak of dengue fever.
Speaking at a meeting where arrangements made by public hospitals were reviewed on Saturday, the minister warned that there would be punishments for hospital administrations which did not follow his instructions.
Sindhu said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had committed to beating dengue at any cost so no negligence from a government institution or hospital would be tolerated.
The participants of the meeting were shown pictures of hospitals where pools of water and dumps of garbage had gathered. These pictures had been shown at a cabinet committee meeting earlier and the minister sought an explanation from representatives of these hospitals. He directed them to make sure that their hospitals were clean within three days.
Prof Wasim Akram, the head of the Chief Minister’s Dengue Research Cell, said that if the hospitals did not quickly drain away the standing water and clear away garbage, there patients could catch dengue fever.
Environment Secretary Anwar Rashid Chaudhry said that standard operating procedures for the disposal of medical waste had been sent to all hospitals and it was their job to ensure that these procedures were followed. He said improper disposal of hospital waste encouraged the growth of dengue mosquitoes.
Health Director General Dr Tanvir Hussain, Institute for Public Health Dean Prof Muaz Ahmad, Mayo Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Zahid Pervaiz, Services Hospital MS Dr Rehana Malik, Children’s Hospital Medical Director Prof Ahsan Waheed Rathore, Jinnah Hospital Assistant MS Dr Salahuddin, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital MS Dr Umar Farooq Baloch, Lahore General Hospital MS Dr Amjad Shehzad, Shaikh Zayed Hospital Administrator Dr Akbar Hussain and the executive district officers (health) of Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Sargodha and Bahawalpur also attended the meeting.
Holiday cancelled
Postgraduate Medical Institution (PGMI) and (LGH) Principal Prof Anjum Habib Vohra later announced that he was cancelling the weekly Sunday holiday of all hospital staff including administrative doctors in order to do the clean-up work, APP reports.
Talking to reporters, Prof Vohra said that he had directed LGH Medical Superintendent Dr Amjad Shehzad to make sure that the stagnant rainwater is drained away so it doesn’t become a breeding site for dengue mosquitoes.
He said that contractors engaged in construction work at the hospital had also been asked to drain away rainwater from the building site. If dengue mosquito larvae were found at the construction site, they would be punished, he said.
Quacks
Also on Saturday, Punjab Healthcare Commission Chairman Justice (r) Aamir Raza Khan urged Health Department officials to curtail quackery in the Punjab, APP reported. In a letter to the health secretary, the chairman noted that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council had on January 5, 2010, authorised the director general of Health Services, executive district officers (health), district health officers and deputy district health officers, medical superintendents of teaching, district and divisional hospitals, as well as all PMDC members, to file complaints under the PMDC Ordinance in the courts of the province. The chairman said that cases pending in the courts should be pursued for early disposal.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2013.
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