Surprise visit: CM unhappy with facilities at Raiwind hospital

Shahbaz tells MS he should go home if he cannot run hospital affairs

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif paid a surprise visit to the newly-built Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Raiwind on Thursday.

During the visit, Sharif reviewed medical facilities being provided to patients at the hospital. He inquired after patients under treatment at the emergency and asked their attendants about the state of treatment facilities. He expressed his displeasure with poor sanitation at the hospital and snubbed Assistant Medical Superintendent Mehmood Akhtar for not following the dress code for doctors. He asked some questions to the nursing staff about treatment facilities at the hospital.

On the complaint of a woman medical officer and some other staff members, the chief minister directed the hospital administration to provide transport to staff members doing evening duty.

The hospital administration informed the chief minister that some posts of doctors and surgeons at the hospital were still vacant. The chief minister said it was medical superintendent’s duty to run hospital’s affairs in an efficient manner and provide facilities to patients. Pointing to Medical Superintendent Muhammad Naeem, the chief minister said he should go home if he was unaware of problems facing the hospital.

The chief minister also visited the operation theatre and the dental surgery room. He was angered by the presence of waste in the dental surgery room. He went to pharmacist’s room and medicines stockroom. He checked the register and inspected the medicines distribution process. He said the medicines store should be sealed immediately and its records should be audited. He said that supply of medicines to patients should not be halted during the audit. Some patients told the chief minister that they were not receiving medicines from the hospital.

Speaking to the hospital staff later, the chief minister asked them to perform their duties with a spirit of service to humanity. He said he was committed to improving the conditions at public hospitals and he would not quit until provision of better health facilities to patients. He said this was the reason that he was visiting public hospitals in person. He said that billions of rupees were being spent on provision of better medical facilities to ordinary people. He said that benefits of this investment in the health sector must reach the ordinary people.

The chief minister also listened to some people who had gathered outside the hospital during his visit. He assured them that he would solve the problems facing the Raiwind residents as soon as possible. He said that a flyover was being built over the railway line in Raiwind.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2016.