RIC faces influx of non-cardiac patients

The outpatient department (OPD), wards and operation theatres of the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) are overcrowded due to a huge influx of patients from across the country. This has increased the risk of Covid-19 spread as the twin cities are in the grip of the prevailing fifth wave of the Omicron variant.

The plan to build a new OPD block for the hospital remains buried in the government files. The increasing number of patients has crossed the standard capacity in the hospital’s existing OPD since patients from across the country come to RIC for treatment of heart diseases. Patients, hospital administration and doctors are facing difficulties due to this situation.

The Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) was made functional during the previous government tenure in 2012. The height of the hospital’s building was decreased during its construction phase at that time on the objection raised by the officials of former Benazir Bhutto International Airport and the existing airbase in the district which affected an ideal system of treatment.

Now after 10 years, the hospital building is unable to provide services to the increased inflow of patients in terms of the capacity in OPD, wards and other areas.

The hospital management had proposed the construction of a new OPD building in the hospital parking lot, underground parking and from ground to the first floor, but no progress has been made in this regard even after one year.

On the other hand, the construction of ICUs has become inevitable in DHQ’s at the tehsil level because non-cardiac patients are also brought to the IRC from across the country, including Rawalpindi for treatment which creates a burden on the hospital.

In this situation, it has become imperative to set up ICUs in the tehsil headquarters hospitals to reduce the burden of non-cardiac patients on the IRC.

But even this most important need is not being addressed. The patients' load at the IRC is increasing, which is beyond the capacity of the hospital.

The hospital always sees large lines of patients for various tests and check-ups, while due to the rush of patients for operations, it is impossible to give early appointments. Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology Executive Director Dr Anjum Jalal said that the service delivery of the hospital was very good.

Where patients' confidence in the hospital treatment system is growing, the capacity of the OPD is much less than that of the patients, therefore, the construction of a new OPD building is inevitable.

However, experts are being consulted in this regard so that the burden of OPD could be overcome.

Dr Anjum Jalal said that free of cost treatment is provided to the patients in RIC’s emergency and OPD. “If ICUs are set up in Tehsil headquarters hospitals, a large number of such patients would not come to RIC,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17, 2022.