Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: The top health official in the country on Wednesday took serious notice of reports that heads of departments, senior doctors and specialists were often absent from their posts or leave their offices before the official closing hours.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said that “thousands of patients visit the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) daily and that they cannot, under any circumstances, be deprived of the services of senior doctors and specialists.
“There shall be zero tolerance for such causal attitude.” He added that they were making all effort to uplift services in major hospitals but that this will require the utmost devotion and commitment by doctors and hospital staff. On Dr Mirza’s directions, the Pims Joint Executive Director Dr Anjum Javed issued a strongly-worded circular, warning staffers that disciplinary action will be taken against all such doctors who are found to be absent from duty without authorisation. Dr Mirza’s comments come a day after a Senate panel on health took up issues at the largest, government-run tertiary care hospital in the federal capital, including delays in promoting nursing staff and injustice in promoting doctors.
Hospitals swarmed with cold, flu patients
Rains and the prolonged chilly weather in the federal capital have caused thousands of people in the city to suffer from cold and flu and the city’s hospitals have been inundated with such patients in recent weeks.
The Federal Government Hospital (Polyclinic) has seen a spike in the number of patients checking in with symptoms of influenza, sore throat, cough, common cold and fever during December.
Polyclinic Spokesperson Dr Sharif Astori on Tuesday said that doctors at the hospital were examining more than 4,500 people at its Outpatient Department (OPD) daily.
These days, most of the visitors at the hospital were complaining of the common cold, he said.
He asserted that despite meagre resources, all arrangements to tackle such patients were in place so that patients, even those coming in from the outskirts of the federal capital, were being given the best possible healthcare facilities.
Dr Astori said that the cold snap brings with it a host of seasonal diseases, causing the number of patients coming to the hospital to increase.
Most vulnerable to winter ailments were the minors and the elderly, Dr Astori said. According to data released by the hospital, at least 112,833 patients visited Polyclinic with diseases linked to cold weather in December. Amongst these, 82,295 patients were examined in the OPD while 29,101 were treated in the emergency department.
Common symptoms for this include cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever, experts said. Ear Nose Throat (ENT) specialist at Capital Development Authority Hospital Dr Jawad Ahmed said that out of 100 patients visiting the hospital daily, around 25% complained of the common cold.
A professor of the ENT department at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) added that around 200 patients of the disease were visiting the hospital daily.
These officials said that people who did not cover themselves properly with warm clothes while going outside, especially at night and early in the morning, were more vulnerable. Taking cold fluids like chilled water or sitting in air-conditioned rooms were other factors.
School-going children were more prone to this disease as they easily catch it from one another, they added.
Experts suggest that the best way to cure the ailment is by including warm fluids like soups, broths, tea, green tea and coffee in their diet.
WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM SHABBIR HUSSAIN
Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2020.
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