Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), one of Karachi's largest public hospitals, has been struggling in the face of an acute shortage of funds and staff, it emerged on Sunday.
According to sources at ASH, who asked not to be named, the hospital, run under the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), is unable to keep up with the persistent lack of funds and seamlessly cater to patients, particularly indoor patients and those visiting the outpatient department.
In fact, it is struggling to keep running amid the shortage of medical staff and life-saving drugs, unavailability of diagnostic facilities, a lack of resources to provide food to patients, non-functional wards, insufficient water supply, out of order equipment and numerous other challenges, the sources revealed.
Consequently, the hospital has witnessed a decline in patient footfall.
Limited funds
The hospital sources ascribed the worsening condition of healthcare at the facility to it receiving limited funds from the KMC and the Sindh government for a decade.
It is somehow managing to sustain on limited funds released by the KMC and donations, they explained, adding that the hospital, housing over 900 beds, didn't even received 20 per cent of the budget allocated to it.
Shorthanded
Further aggravating the situation are vacant posts at the facility, including those of medical officers, consultants, nurses, sweepers, security guards, technicians, paramedics and other administrative staff.
As per the hospital sources, these posts have been lying vacant for several years.
Consequently, inexperienced junior doctor have been running multiple departments, while some others are on the verge of closure.
Out of order
Meanwhile, important diagnostic equipment, approximately 40 per cent of what is owned by the facility, has worn out after years of use and is in dire need of replacement. Moreover, magnetic resonance imaging machines and computerised tomography scan machines are also non-functional, while the hospital administration lacks funds to get them repaired.
When contacted, KMC medical and health services senior director Dr Birbal Genani remained unavailable to comment on the matter.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2020.
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