Patients distressed as doctors’ strike continues
Dengue claims two more lives, raising death toll in twin cities to 57
PHOTO: REUTERS
RAWALPINDI:
Patients at the three government-run allied hospitals in Rawalpindi continued to suffer as a strike by doctors in Rawalpindi’s public sector hospitals against the imposition of the new medical teaching institutions (MTI) act entered its third week on Friday.
Closure of outpatient (OPD) services at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto General Hospital (BBH) and the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) has forced 80,000 patients to return without treatment or seek treatment at private hospitals apart from affecting operations in the emergency, and dengue wards of the hospital.
Patients in other faculties of the hospitals such as pediatrics, orthopedic, dermatology, medical, surgical and ear, nose and throat (ENT), have not been provided treatment owing to the absence of doctors.
Senior doctors serving at the hospital, who have been forced to cover for the protesting doctors, are also greatly affected by the strike and protests.
5,500 operations put off due to doctors’ strike in Punjab
Sources said that apart from people from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, patients from as far as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and other surrounding areas also venture to the three tertiary care hospitals in Rawalpindi seeking treatment. But now they have nowhere to go or get treatment.
The health department and the district administration too have failed to provide alternative medical assistance for patients.
The patients have demanded that the provincial government work with the doctors so that they may call off the strike and that medical facilities are restored.
The government must ensure the provision of health facilities through alternate channels if young doctors do not come to terms, a patient demanded.
Dengue claims more lives
The Dengue virus on Friday claimed two more lives in Rawalpindi taking the toll for the year to 57. Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours, as many as 87 people tested positive for the dengue virus.
The health department stated that 34-year-old Naila, resident of Hamak Town in Islamabad, and 37-year-old Sohail Bhatti, a resident of Badar Town in Rawalpindi, were admitted to the DHQ where they succumbed to the virus.
With the new cases detected in the city, the total number of dengue patients in Rawalpindi has risen to 9,812. Of the cases received in the past 24 hours, 34 cases were from Potohar, 21 from Rawal Town, 14 from different areas of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, six patients from Chaklala Cantonment Board area, three from Islamabad and a patient each was from Kallar Sayedan, Taxila, Kahuta and Murree.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2019.
Patients at the three government-run allied hospitals in Rawalpindi continued to suffer as a strike by doctors in Rawalpindi’s public sector hospitals against the imposition of the new medical teaching institutions (MTI) act entered its third week on Friday.
Closure of outpatient (OPD) services at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto General Hospital (BBH) and the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) has forced 80,000 patients to return without treatment or seek treatment at private hospitals apart from affecting operations in the emergency, and dengue wards of the hospital.
Patients in other faculties of the hospitals such as pediatrics, orthopedic, dermatology, medical, surgical and ear, nose and throat (ENT), have not been provided treatment owing to the absence of doctors.
Senior doctors serving at the hospital, who have been forced to cover for the protesting doctors, are also greatly affected by the strike and protests.
5,500 operations put off due to doctors’ strike in Punjab
Sources said that apart from people from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, patients from as far as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and other surrounding areas also venture to the three tertiary care hospitals in Rawalpindi seeking treatment. But now they have nowhere to go or get treatment.
The health department and the district administration too have failed to provide alternative medical assistance for patients.
The patients have demanded that the provincial government work with the doctors so that they may call off the strike and that medical facilities are restored.
The government must ensure the provision of health facilities through alternate channels if young doctors do not come to terms, a patient demanded.
Dengue claims more lives
The Dengue virus on Friday claimed two more lives in Rawalpindi taking the toll for the year to 57. Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours, as many as 87 people tested positive for the dengue virus.
The health department stated that 34-year-old Naila, resident of Hamak Town in Islamabad, and 37-year-old Sohail Bhatti, a resident of Badar Town in Rawalpindi, were admitted to the DHQ where they succumbed to the virus.
With the new cases detected in the city, the total number of dengue patients in Rawalpindi has risen to 9,812. Of the cases received in the past 24 hours, 34 cases were from Potohar, 21 from Rawal Town, 14 from different areas of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, six patients from Chaklala Cantonment Board area, three from Islamabad and a patient each was from Kallar Sayedan, Taxila, Kahuta and Murree.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2019.