No check on private clinics in capital

Small healthcare centers with ill-trained staff put people’s lives at risk

ISLAMABAD:

Under the guise of helping and taking advantage of the lack of access to a hospital either due to finances or sheer urgency, small private clinics add to the misery of those hoping to seek the help of a medical professional. Considered to be a lucrative business model, private clinics are often illegal and run by unqualified individuals, which poses serious health hazards for those who knock on their doors for help.

For Mehboob Sultan, who resides in the outskirts of Islamabad, the lack of a crackdown against such hospitals was the loss of a newly born baby. “My wife had to deliver our baby, so we went to a small private hospital in Rawat. They charged us Rs40,000 under the pretext of a cesarean delivery but our baby was delivered normally,” he narrated painfully. After having paid the huge sum of money against his better judgment, Sultan’s life turned upside down. “A few hours after the birth, due to a wrongly administered injection and resulting infection, my child passed away,” a visibly distraught Sultan told The Express Tribune.

His pleas for help and complaints have not borne any fruit and his rage towards the system is apparent. Despite the gravity of the risk they pose, Islamabad’s rural areas have seen a mushroom growth in small clinics, as per residents, particularly in the densely populated neighborhoods of Bhara Kahu, Phalgaran, Sohan, Khanna Dak, Nellore, Sang Jani, Golra, Sihala, Tarlai, Bari Imam, Tarnol, and Ghauri Town. Faizan Satti, who is a resident of the rural areas of the federal capital and recently visited a small clinic, candidly informed that the private clinics had three types of medicines. “Each patient is given a green, yellow, and pink color medicine in a small bottle along with an injection for immediate pain relief,” Satti explained.

The immediate pain relief is the bread and butter of such clinics and thus through word of mouth advertising leads to a solid clientele. Having heard a similar story of immediate pain relief, Uzair Bazigh took his elderly father who was suffering from a stomach ache to a small clinic in Bhara Kahu. “They gave him two injections but my father’s condition immediately worsened,” recounts Bazigh. However, instead of admitting responsibility the management of the private clinic charged a fee of Rs3,000 and asked Bazigh to take his father to the Polyclinic, a government-run hospital in Islamabad.

“The doctors at Polyclinic informed us that my father needed an immediate operation of the gallbladder. Thankfully the operation was successful,” he informed. Despite his gratefulness, Bazigh’s trauma from the experience remained. He complained numerous times against the clinic but his complaints fell on deaf ears until a senior health officer stepped in. “I approached the health officer through some personal contacts and then two weeks after my complaint the clinic was sealed,” Bazigh said.

Complaints not being heard is a consistent pattern though. Sharif Khokhar, a resident of Bhara Kahu, who complained about a clinic in his locality, alleged that these private clinics are run with the help of the field staff of the health department. “No action was taken despite my complaint. Often such clinics are sealed but just simply reopen under a different name,” he accused.

When inquired about the city’s residents’ ordeal and accusations, a spokesman for the Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority (IHRA), whilst requesting anonymity conceded that this was an issue and informed that recently 41 fake private clinics have been sealed in the suburbs of Islamabad, 50 have been issued notices for lack of facilities, and 13 government officials have been suspended for connivance.

“Strict checks are carried out by our teams in all the surrounding areas including Rawat, Bhara Kahu, and Phulgaran. There are almost no such complaints in main city centers but complaints from rural areas are frequent and we take immediate action,” he told The Express Tribune.