Public hospitals refuse to spare staff for RIUKT

Govt had asked doctors, paramedics to work double shift at kidney hospital

RAWALPINDI: Four public sector hospitals of Rawalpindi have refused to hand over human resource for the soft launch of Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant (RIUKT) at Shamsabad Murree Road in March, officials said on Wednesday.

Punjab government had asked Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), Holy Family Hospital (HFH), District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital and Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) to provide doctors, paramedics and supporting staff for RIUKT.

These physicians and technicians were supposed to work double shifts in their home institution and RIUKT to start emergency and out-patient department (OPD) at least by March, according to official correspondence between the Punjab government and the allied hospitals seen by The Express Tribune.

The administrations of BBH, HFH, DHQ Hospital and RIC refused to give doctors and paramedical staff stating they were already short of human resource. The refusal has made inauguration of RIUKT in the approaching year doubtful.

The administrations of the said hospitals, in correspondence with the Punjab government, said the workforce was already low and they were unable to serve people to their complete capacity.

The provincial government was planning to get the urological and kidney treatment facility ready by February 2020 for limited functioning launch in March with an operative OPD and emergency department.

However, the Punjab health ministry has yet to complete the recruitment process and was therefore demanding staff from other public sector hospitals of the city.

The procurement of the electro-medical equipment has completed, but the expensive machinery is lying in open wrapped in plastic packing. The construction work of the RIUKT building is also incomplete.

Long delayed project

The ground-breaking of the project was performed by the former chief minister Punjab Mian Shehbaz Sharif in 2012. The project cost has skyrocketed to Rs4 billion which was initially worth Rs3.2 billion.

The Rawalpindi division lacks any institution of the kind. It has been reported that many patients facing kidney related diseases succumb to death due to the scarcity of resources to afford private hospitals

The funds for this 250 bed project were not released despite the fact that its foundation was laid in 2012. The deployment of the relevant machinery and other human resources has not been accomplished until date.

More than a dozen dates have already previously been announced to make hospital functional.

In this regard, the citizens said that the project had been mired in politics. They added the previous government was willing to complete the project but the incumbent government had turned a blind eye to it. They added thousands of poor kidney patients, who had to travel to other government hospitals for their treatment, would benefit if the project was completed.

The Express Tribune contacted the project contractors who said that though at a slow pace, the construction was still underway owing to a shortage of funds. They said the first two floors of the building were ready and could be made functional after installation of required machinery and equipment.

Subsequently, the sources in the health department told that a large scale purchasing of equipment was yet to be done. He added that no medical and paramedical staff was recruited for the institute which was, undoubtedly, mandatory to run the hospital. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2019.