Patients in grief: Angiography machines out of order, non-functional at LRH

New machines delivered, require inspection before becoming operational.

PESHAWAR: Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) is considered to be the province’s major health facility where patients from not only Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, but also neighbouring Afghanistan come to seek medical assistance. However, angiography machines at the facility are out of order.

It is alarming that not only are angiography machines out of order, but one of them has not been used for over two years. It has been nonfunctional since 2014.

State of affairs

Two machines are not working and will be repaired - one of them cannot be used to carry out two angiographies at the same time. This particular machine is being used for emergency services.

According to an official who has been dealing with cardiac patients at the facility, 15 to 20 cases are diagnosed at LRH on a daily basis. “We work for nine to 10 hours daily and enlist patients, but their turn never comes,” he said.

Requesting anonymity, he said repeated requests have been made to authorities, but the machine used for emergency purposes is still being repaired by mechanics. He added while new machines had been delivered, they had yet to be installed since they required an inspection prior to operation.

“Once the officials concerned inspect machines, they will be installed and we will be able to carry out a diagnosis,” he said. “It will take nearly 15 more days and the list [of patients] will reach at least 600 people.”

He also said the machine, which went of order in 2014, needed its tube to be repaired, but that has not been done thus far.

“The machine costs Rs70 million and we would have purchased it in the past since cardiology ward was autonomous before the Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Act, 2015. However, the LRH board of governors deals with such issues after the legislation got the assembly’s nod,” he said. The official added things would have been very different if the ward was autonomous.

Accentuating misery

Another health official, dealing with angioplasty, told The Express Tribune they could not even place stents (small mesh tube used to treat narrow or weak arteries by improving blood flow to heart muscle) as part of a procedure called Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), also known as coronary angioplasty.

“Angiography machines are used to diagnose the problem followed by its treatment; angioplasty. If you are unable to diagnose the problem, how will you treat it?” the official asked.

He stated patients were being referred to other hospitals due to the lack of the facility at LRH and 20% of angiography patients belonged
to Afghanistan.

He added patients from low or no income backgrounds were offered free services following recommendations of the committee.

“They are at risk of dying,” the official said, referring to patients waiting for their turn which could take at least 15 days.

He also stated they carried out five angioplasties on a daily basis and the cost at LRH was comparatively lower than at other facilities in the country—a bare-metal stent costs Rs90,000 and a drug-eluting stent costs Rs150,000.

When contacted, LRH Media Manager Zulfiqar Khan confirmed there were four machines at the facility, but were not fully functional. He also said new machines were purchased and will soon be installed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2016.