Kidney patients suffer as bureaucrats wrangle

RATODERO: Kidney patients in Sindh continue to suffer as bureaucrats fight over the bifurcation of the Nephro-Urology Department and shifting a part of it to the main block of Chandka Medical College (CMC).

The vice-chancellor of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University and the principal of CMC have failed to resolve the issue of separating the life-saving department and shifting it to the hospital’s city campus.

The provincial health department has provided three new dialysis machines to the Nephro-Urology Department that already had 11 machines.

Officials have revealed that the head of the Nephro-Urology Department does not want the department to be split as it would reduce the scope of his authority.

The shifting and separation of the nephrology department was suggested by the medical superintendent of CMC hospital, Dr Zulfikar Siyal, to improve its efficiency. A committee was also constituted by the Hospital Management Committee but it has yet to resolve this issue.

The main reason behind this decision is the sub-soil water available at the present site of the department as is located near the Rice Canal.

This subsoil water, used for dialysis through Water Reverse Osmosis (WRO) system, is highly contaminated, according to a report by the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Siyal tried to relocate the department after this report was published but his request was turned down, an official said.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2010.