People demand better facilities at PIMS gynaecology ward

Complain about rude attitude of gynaecologists and shortage of senior doctors

ISLAMABAD: Citizens have demanded of the authorities concerned to improve services at gynaecology ward of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) with addition of doctors, paramedical staff and beds.

They complained about ineffective treatment methodology, rude attitude of gynaecologists and shortage of senior doctors at gynaecology wards at hospital.

According to them, many patients who visited the hospital from far-flung areas had to wait for hours in long queues outside the gynae department for medical cards. The sitting capacity in the waiting area was very limited they said.

They said due to the issuance of limited medical cards and limited duration of cards, a large number of patients had to return home empty-handed by the end of the day, despite waiting for hours in long queues.

Mostly patients were asked to return the next day by the department administration, which could prove to be fatal for pregnant women, who visited the hospital from remote areas, they said.

 

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They said only limited beds were available in gynae wards, where not only staff was limited, but there were acute shortage of medicines.

They asked to take notice of frequent absence of senior doctors and non-observance of duty-roster by medical and non-medical staff at gynae wards.

"There should be a monitoring mechanism to check whether the duty staff observed their duties or not at gynae wards," Kaleem Khan, husband of a patient, said.

He said a system of reward and punishment should be initiated by the hospital management under which responsible staff should be encouraged while those who do not take their duties seriously should be removed or punished.

Another attendant, Imran Waheed alleged that senior doctors mostly remained absent from their duties while only postgraduate (PG) doctors, who were studying there, ran the affairs of the most sensitive department of the hospital.

He added that due to the limited knowledge and experience, the PGs could not satisfy the patients having serious medical complications.

They even could not properly treat patients with minor medical issues at out patient departments (OPDs) and mostly referred serious ones to other hospitals.

Saima Jalil, the attendant of a woman said, "The rush at gynae OPDs is maddening here. The hospital should increase the OPD rooms for dealing with maximum number of patients daily, besides increasing the number of beds."

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She said the authorities concerned should immediately expand the existing gynae ward with more staff to provide timely and properly medical care to the patients. The antenatal and postnatal services should be improved for patient care, she added.

When contacted, an official of PIMS said unlike medical practices abroad where one doctor examines five to seven patients in a day, here at PIMS each doctor had to examine several patients daily at gynae OPDs due to shortage of medical practitioners.

He said a sufficient number of doctors performed their duties in the hospital's gynaecology department including wards at day and night time to properly serve the patients.

He said the hospital management had taken several steps to provide best medical care to the patients.

He added that a team of doctors remained in the gynae wards of the hospital round the clock to provide proper medical cover to the patients.  

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2019.