Public health: Children Hospital burdened beyond capacity

The number of patients admitted at the hospital at any given day is almost double the capacity

LAHORE:

The Children’s Hospital, the only public facility in the city that caters exclusively to the healthcare needs of children, is operating beyond capacity.

Children’s Hospital Medical Director Ahsan Waheed Rathore told The Express Tribune that the number of patients treated daily at the emergency ward, equipped only with 250 beds, was around 3,000.

He said that at any given day the number of patients admitted at the hospital was around 1,300. The installed capacity at the facility was for 784 patients, he said.

Rathore said that the government needed to set up similar facilities in other districts to lower their burden. “We treat patients beyond our capacity from across the country. How is it possible for us to treat them all adequately?” he asked.

He said that for every 60 patients admitted at the hospital from the city there were 40 from other parts of the country. Of the latter, around 15 were from other provinces, most of whom were from Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa.

Health Department spokesperson Ikhlaq Ali Khan said that work was underway on establishment of similar facilities in other districts. He said that once their healthcare needs were addressed closer to home people from other districts would no longer need to bring their children to Lahore.

The spokesperson admitted that the installed capacity at the Children’s Hospital was not enough even to meet the city’s demand. However, he said, if it were to cater only to patients from the city and its surrounding areas the burden on the hospital would still be less than it was at the moment.

“Children’s Hospital is the only state-of-the-art facility in the province that caters exclusively to the needs of the children. It’s obvious that it will be overburdened,” he said.

Out-of-station patients inconvenienced

Winter months are particularly hard for families who bring their children for treatment at the outpatients department (OPD) at the Children’s Hospital.

Speaking to The Tribune, some of the families said they had been waiting for their turn for over 10 hours. With the indoors waiting area filled to capacity, the visitors have to fight the cold weather while waiting in the open. The administration has provided benches in the hospital lawns for such visitors.

“The crowded lawns at the Children’s Hospital reveal the sorry state of affairs of the Health Department,” says Farzana Bibi, an Okara resident.

Her one-year-old son, Sanaullah, has been diagnosed with thalassemia and needs to be brought to facility once every month for medical examination.

She says that each round trip costs her around Rs5,000. “My husband is a wage laborer. We have removed our other children from school to afford the expenses for Sanaullah’s treatment,” he said.

Another visitor Zeeshan Haider said he and his family had to wait for around 10 hours for their turn at the emergency ward. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2016.