Seven years on, heart facility still waiting for doctor to open its doors

Facility was established by Fauji Fertilizer Company but has hardly been used since

SUKKUR:

Each time the Sindh government is questioned about the miserable state of the public health sector, it manages to come up with a barrage of excuses starting from the lack of funds to non-serious staff. It is ironic then that the very same government has completely ignored a state-of-the-art facility, established by the Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC), in Civil Hospital Mirpur Mathelo.

The Rs17 million facility was funded and handed over to the health department around seven years ago. It has been non-functional since. The only obstacle in the operations of this state-of-the-art facility is the lack of a cardiologist - a position the health department has been unable to fill in all this time.



A few miles away, the cardiology ward at the Taluka Hospital Ghotki fares no better. Former Sindh chief minister Ali Mohammad Mahar, during his tenure in 2002, had established this particular facility after his father, former MPA Haji Ali Anwar Mahar, had died of a heart attack in 1995. The late MPA had not been able to get timely medical attention. Though this facility still exists in the taluka hospital, there is no cardiologist to attend to the heart patients.



On the contrary, a doctor from People's Primary Health Initiative used to attend to patients but as there were no requisite facilities in the ward, the doctor could only perform an ECG to confirm if the person was suffering from a heart attack. As a result, patients who suffered heart attacks were either rushed to hospitals in Sukkur or Rahim Yar Khan. Most breathed their last on the way.

In 2008, FFC came forward to put the people of this district out of their misery and established the state-of-the-art cardiology ward in the premises of the Civil Hospital Mirpur Mathelo. The aim was to provide immediate medical care to heart patients, but the apathetic attitude of the government and the management of the hospital has resulted in the closure of the facility since the last seven years.

For his part, the FFC spokesperson, Colonel Amin, told The Express Tribune that the establishment of the cardiology ward in the civil hospital was a gift to the residents of district Ghotki and aimed to provide the best available treatment to patients with heart diseases. He said that the company had spent Rs17 million on it and installed all the necessary equipment to make it a state-of-the-art facility. "We have done our job and now it's up to the government to arrange cardiologists to run the facility," said Colonel Amin.



Despite repeated attempts, the medical superintendent of Civil Hospital Mirpur Mathelo was not available for comments. He, however, replied to a text message some days later, claiming that the ward functions in the morning and evening to provide out-patient checkup facilities. The MS said that two doctors, who have diplomas in cardiology, check patients at both times of the day. He added, however, that they did not have a medical officer to start the in-patient facility.

The superintendent's claims were, however, refuted by a Mirpur Mathelo-based journalist, who alleged that the facility remained locked most of the time and patients suffering from heart ailments must go to Sukkur or Rahim Yar Khan for treatment. Meanwhile, health secretary, Dr Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo, expressed ignorance about the absence of a cardiologist in hospital, reasoning that the matter had not been brought into his knowledge. However, the bureaucrat promised to look into the matter and resolve the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd,  2015.