Short of facilities: Petition filed against PIMS over lack of ventilators

Petitioner argues govt officials are putting the lives of patients at risk

ISLAMABAD: A man has approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over the shortage of medical ventilators at the largest government hospital in the federal capital.

Shakeel Ahmed Janjua, through his counsel, Yasir Mehmood Chaudhry, has petitioned the IHC to point out the insufficient number of ventilators at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

The case will be heard by Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC on Friday (today).

He has made the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) secretary, the vice chancellor of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University (PIMS) and the PIMS executive director respondents.

The counsel said that a large number of patients come from different parts of the country to the hospital, but end up having to run between PIMS and private hospitals due to the shortage of lifesaving equipment. Chaudhry said the respondents were drawing huge salaries, perks, and privileges from the national exchequer, but are willfully and deliberately ignoring this vital issue which is related to the lives of the public at large.

He said that the petitioner sent an application to the respondents and tried to bring the issue to their attention, but in vain. Chaudhry said the population of the federal capital is now over two million, but PIMS has only 20 ventilators, which is insufficient for the average patient load. “Every week, four to six patients die because of the lack of ventilators,” he said.

“The lives of a number of people could be saved if the respondents increase the number of ventilators at PIMS,” he said, adding that deaths due to shortages of equipment falls within the ambit of criminal negligence as the respondents are government officials and despite being aware of the shortfall, have not taken any steps to address it.

In the petition, he has further argued that the respondents have failed to protect the lives of the citizens and the fundamental rights of the people as guaranteed by the constitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2016.