Doctors recommend diuretic for JPMC

KARACHI: If only a massive diuretic could be given to Jinnah hospital. The medication that sucks water out of human bodies would have worked wonders for the city’s largest hospital, whose creaky old wards flooded with water as the rains hit.

“There were no arrangements to drain the water and honestly it was no use as it is not over yet and the cyclone is fast approaching the city,” said Hakeemullah who had come from Dadu for his daughter’s knee surgery. “If you ask me, I will tell you that it has all been done by HIM.”

Jinnah’s emergency unit chief Dr Seemin Jamali confirmed that there was a problem. “Our two executive wards - Physciatry and the Special wards - were affected by rainwater,” she said. “Since there was no power from midnight Saturday till 6pm Sunday, there was nothing we could do.”

Part of the problem is that the hospital is lower than the road outside. “The suction pumps cannot be used at the moment,” she said. Patients were moved to other rooms. “We are relying on generators so if there is no power issue by tomorrow then we can clear the area.” Part of the flooding was caused by the choked cantonment lines.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2010.