Cancer hospital in Abbottabad refuses to admit patients

Abbottabad’s INOR hospital shuts due to coronavirus

ABBOTTABAD: The Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy (INOR) Cancer Hospital in Abbottabad has stopped the radiotherapy facilities to the indoor patients and laboratory testing facilities to all patients.

Some patients with their relatives had held a protest and had demanded from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) chairperson for the full-fledge running of the cancer hospital to its capacity as currently, only OPD was open for a short while and no admissions were being to the hospital while a large number of serious patients were asked to wait for the next call who badly needed treatment like chemo and radiation.

The INOR cancer hospital is one of the 18 medical centres established by the PAEC across the country. The Abbottabad centre was established in 1974 adjacent to Ayub Teaching Hospital and caters to the needs of patients of the Hazara division, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

Hundreds of patients visit the hospital’s OPD and indoor treatment.

The INOR is a specialised services hospital that provides treatment to the patients of cancer from diagnosis till radiation treatment as all are done through the highly sophisticated machines installed under special procedures like radiation-free building installations etc.

Sources familiar with the development told that administration of the Abbottabad INOR hospital for the last couple of days has been refusing to admit patients for radiation due to coronavirus pandemic.

The sources informed that one of the patients who was earlier admitted to the hospital has been discharged by the administration. The patient had already completed half of the circle of chemotherapy and was waiting for the next call. Some new patients who direly need early treatment were also refused admission to the hospital.

Keeping in view the high cost of the treatment, patients had demanded from the management of the INOR hospital to resume the normal operational facilities for patients and called upon MNA Ali Khan Jadoon, Federal Minister Azam Khan Swati and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani to intervene in the matter and help the patients.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2020.