A three-month-old baby girl died while suffering from diarrhoea in Holy Family Hospital (HFH) on Saturday. The hospital staff claimed that the girl was receiving treatment but died because her condition was critical. The father, Mohammad Yaseen, however, said that his daughter died because there was no doctor available to treat her.
Since the young doctors began their strike across hospitals in the twin cities, there have been numerous complaints of patients failing to receive medical treatment. Some claim to have lost their loved ones in the mix.
Nasreen Bibi at the District Headquarter (DHQ) Hospital pointed to two nurses who had helped her bring in her five-year-old daughter and said, “They left me helpless while my daughter lied unconscious and bruised.”
She added, “I asked repeatedly, but the hospital staff didn’t even give me a blanket for my daughter.” she said. She had brought Nayab, her daughter, to DHQ when HFH staff claimed they were ill-equipped to treat her injuries.
Talat Jabeen’s seven-year-old son fell from a three storey building on Saturday morning while flying a kite. The hospital staff performed a CT scan around 11am, said Jabeen. “Since then, no doctor has come around to tell me about the condition of my boy. He has been lying unconscious since morning,” she added.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Associated Professor Nephrology at Rawalpindi Medical College, Dr Mohammad Hussain said the hospital is “indeed facing problems due to shortage of young doctors,” but the staff members there were trying their best to tend to all patients properly. “It is impossible to run a hospital [with many of your doctors missing],” he added.
One is bound to come across such plights of patients while going through the lonely corridors of DHQ and HFH.
Suffering from acute abdominal pain, Saba was brought to DHQ hospital at seven in the morning. She passed out due to the intense pain a few hours later. The nurses said only their senior doctor can treat her, but he won’t be around till 8pm. “What am I supposed to do?” her agitated mother cried.
Sitting helpless in the lawns of BBH hospital, 40-year-old Raqiba Bibi complained that she was unable to get hepatitis C medicines because outpatient departments in both HFH and BBH are closed.
Mohammad Shehzad from Chakwal has been admitted in HFH medical ward with a broken leg since the past 12 days. “I have not fully recovered but the doctors keep asking me why I have not being discharged. It seemed like they want to get rid of me.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 03rd, 2011
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