Missing babies: Health ministry to set up helpline

Minister vows to personally follow up on complaints registered on the number

PESHAWAR: In order to tackle problems faced by patients in hospitals, the provincial health department has decided to set up a health complaint number.

This was stated by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Minister Hasham Inamullah. Once set up, patients who are still at the health facility or even after they leave [upon being discharged] can directly registering their complaints with the health ministry.

The health ministry can then follow up the complaints and taking action against those found guilty.

The complaints, according to the ministry officials, could be of any nature including the behaviour of doctors, nurses or other staffers, the supply of medicines and care. The complaint service is not limited to those admitted to the facility but is available for even those who are visiting the outpatient or emergency departments.

“I will personally follow the complaints,” the minister told the media.

Inamullah announced the decision to set up the helpline after receiving complaints from patients during visits to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), a major and well-equipped health facility of the province which deals with an average of 5,000 patients in the emergency and 5,000 in the outpatient departments on a daily basis.

The minister had recently twice visited the hospital within a short span of three days. The second visit came after a video posted on social media network Facebook caught his attention. In the video, the parents of a baby girl had apparently taken a baby boy home instead from the facility’s nursery.

This compelled the baby boy’s father to upload a video seeking the attention of the authorities.

The ministry took notice of the video and directed to immediately resolve the issue.

According to the LRH Spokesperson Zulfiqar Babakhel, parents of the baby girl were traced and informed about the incident. Babakhel stated that the issue was resolved after parents of both the kids were invited to the hospital.

“We called parents of both the kids and resolved the issue,” Babakhel informed adding that parents of the baby girl apologised for mistakenly taking away the baby boy.

Inamullah ordered suspending five LRH employees for negligence. The suspended employees also include those who were absent from duty that night.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2018.