Khushbakht Shujaat
The matter of public petition regarding expiry of contract of staff at Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of Pims also came up for discussion during the meeting chaired by Senator Senator Khushbakht Shujat at Parliament House on Wednesday.
The committee was informed by the doctors of Pims Burn Care Centre that the hospital staff tried their best to save Dr Adnan Mehboob who had suffered 85 per cent burn injuries in February however, he could not survive.
Dr Adnan was serving at a hospital in Mingora when he and his children suffered burns injuries due to gas leakage in February. In absence of burn trauma centre in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Adnan was rushed to Islamabad. However, no resurrection treatment was provided on way, according to Pims report about the incident.
Senator Beharmand Tangi said that patient remained in the hospital for four hours but the he did not get any medical treatment. There was gross negligence of Dr Hassan who was on duty at burn centre that day.
Senator Asad Ashraf said that doctors working in hospitals in Punjab have same callous attitude with the patients.
The Senate panel directed to make improvements in health care service delivery system at all level to satisfy patients.
The committee meeting said that providing better health facilities is the prime responsibility of the government and it should fulfil its responsibility.
Committee Chairperson Senator Senator Khushbakht Shujat said that one burn centre in the federal capital is not enough to provide treatment to a large number of patients.
She asked the concerned ministry to complete inquiry of the incident of death of a patient due to alleged negligence of doctors within one month.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Regulations and Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza said that the major public sector hospitals have no capacity to deal with a large number of patients.
He added there is already a burden on these hospitals and unable to give treatment facilities to all patients.
He said that existing public hospitals couldn't ensure appropriate medical care to patients while on the other hand it is not possible for the government to establish many hospitals.
Commenting on negligence incident at Pims, he assured that the government will conduct impartial and transparent inquiry of the incident.
He said that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has been working under a law and there are nine members of this authority. He added private hospitals are also answerable to DRAP.
He said that the DRAP team has raided the warehouse of Shaheen Chemist and recovered smuggled medicines. He added this was second raid on the pharmacy however he admitted that no FIR has been lodged against the pharmacy.
Mirza said that the ministry is working to improve the entire health system of the country. He added there are several public complaints about heavy charges of private hospitals.
The SAPM on health suggested that there should a limit of doctors' fees at private hospitals which should be ensured. He said that he will try his level best to point out obstacles and address all outstanding issues to ensure better health care system. He said that past governments did not pay attention on several national programmes in health sector.
Mirza said that there is regular meeting with provincial health ministers after every three months. He said that after 18th amendment, health sector is facing a lot of problems.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2019.
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