Hospitals short on cure for rain

Important vaccines, medicines for the rainy season missing from the allied hospitals.

ISLAMABAD:

Some of the important vaccines and medicines which serve are extremely necessary in the rainy season are not available at the allied hospitals of Rawalpindi.

Monday saw abundance of rain in the twin cities and in such flood-like situations, which was witnessed by the areas adjacent to Leh, these medicines are crucial to ward off dangerous diseases and curtail their spread.

Moreover, due to the non-availability of these vaccinations even the hospital staff has not been inoculated for the communicable diseases and no isolation wards have been prepared for the patients with such illnesses. To add to that, no fumigation is being done in the wards of the hospital after the discharge of patients with communicable diseases.

The allied hospitals which include Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) receive patients from not only Rawalpindi but also from the nearby villages and cities.

In the coming days more rains have been forecast and the unavailability of these vaccines/medicines is a dangerous sign. These include, Antivenom which is used for snakebite and sting for other animals and insects, tetanus immunoglobulin, Pneumovax against Pneumonia, Meningovax for meningitis, Hepatitis A/B vaccine, swine flu, Bird flu, influenza, chickenpox vaccine, Malaria prophylaxis tablet called mefloquine, typhoid vaccine, gastro prophylaxis tablet called Ciprofloxacin and cefixime, Viral haemorrhagic fever prophylaxis tablet called Ribavirin among others.

“This is very unsafe, as the rainy season is there and floods are expected,” said sources.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a senior doctor on condition of anonymity said currently the Antivenom lying with all the public hospitals was being imported from Saudi Arabia and quality wise it is substandard and not effective in any way.

“Last months three people died in the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) after they were giving Antivenom for the treatment of a snake bite and currently 15 are admitted in the hospital with similar complaints,” he said.

He said during this monsoon season, everyday about 10-11 cases of snakebites come to the fore. Besides, a large number of Malaria patients are also visiting the hospitals daily.

Similarly, the outbreak of Swine flu, Bird Flu, influenza and meningitis is more probable in this season but the allied hospitals’ administration is currently not ready to tackle such a situation, said an official.

Even the hospital staff is not safe. “As was witnessed last year, the staff was not vaccinated and same of the personnel had gotten infected while dealing with the patients,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2011.