Treatment halted in major hospitals
Patients are held in the hallway as St. Mary Medical Center resorts to using tents outside to handle the overflow at its 200 bed hospital during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Apple Valley, California, U.S., January 12, 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS
A large number of patients are suffering due to the unavailability of fluoroscope machines to treat kidney stones in government hospitals of Punjab.
Many districts hospitals lack flouroscopy equipment required for the PCNL procedure to treat the kidney problem.
Only the Lahore General Hospital and Sheikh Zaid Hospital have the facility in the provincial capital.
Sources in the provincial health department told The Express Tribune that fluoroscope machines had been provided to some big hospitals of Punjab but most of them were currently out of order.
They said the equipment at the Services, Mayo and Jinnah hospitals in Lahore had been out of order for several months, and the department had not taken interest in their repair.
The situation has left thousands of kidney patients on the mercy of private hospitals that charge around Rs100,000 for the surgery.
The patients usually face the common disease of kidney stones. Urologists recommend the PCNL procedure to remove the stones.
The procedure is used to remove stones in the kidneys or upper ureter that are too large for other forms of treatment such as lithotripsy or ureteroscopy.
However, only a few hospitals of the province, especially Lahore division, have the required facilities.
The treatment has been discontinued in the big hospitals of Lahore, including the Mayo, Services and Jinnah hospitals, because the fluoroscope machines are out of order.
The hospital administrators and health department have not taken steps for repairing the equipment.
“Out of order fluoroscope machines is the most serious issue nowadays at the government hospitals, because of the suffering of patients caused by the lack of service,” a urologist told The Express Tribune.
He said the patients who were recommended the treatment were facing severe problems who could suffer damage to kidney forever if the stones were not removed. The doctor said the patients also faced bleeding and this pain.
He said only the Lahore Gernal Hospital and Sheikh Zaid Hospital in the provincial had the facilities but the faced a heavy load of patients, causing delay in appointments.
A lady doctor said patients from remote areas of the province came to Lahore for the procedure but the big hospitals had stopped the surgeries because their equipment was out of order.
She said patients from poor families were forced to get the treatment from private hospitals that charged over Rs100,000, making it unaffordable for a large section of the population.
The doctor said Punjab government should immediately take steps to repair the fluoroscopy machines in its hospitals so that the patients may be served.
Punjab health department spokesman Sayed Hamad Raza said in reply to a question that the department had ordered urgent repair of the out of order machinery.
He said the provincial health secretary was personally visiting government hospitals to observe the problems.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 4th, 2022.