Haripur hospital's failures endanger patients' lives

Locals cite reports of malfunctioning lab equipment leading to incorrect diagnoses

HARIPUR:

The District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Haripur has become a nuisance for the patients and their attendants who are at the receiving end owing to inadequate facilities, faulty tests and mismanagement.

Local residents blame corruption and poor management for making a mess. The treatment at the state hospital has left the lives of visitors in danger. Insiders say wrong medical tests are being done on the patients due to malfunctioning of machines in the laboratory.

The latest incident, which happened with a patient yesterday, exposed the hospital's working. The patient's jaundice test came negative in the hospital lab but was declared positive in a private lab outside the hospital.

Currently, the supply of medicine is insufficient, the blood pressure operator is defective, oxygen isn't available in the central emergency, and the Diclofenac injection is also missing.

On the other hand, insiders claim funds worth millions of rupees are being spent on unnecessary renovations and constructions. For example, the hospital building was painted and an alleged embezzlement of Rs7.2 million came to the surface with no outcome of investigation.

Medicines worth millions of rupees also disappeared in the previous era. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigated the case.

Insiders say the culture of references has destroyed the healthcare facilities in addition to corruption and mismanagement. Sources claim that the hospital's medical superintendent (MS) and the District Health Officer (DHO), seem helpless to handle class four employees. Even if all evidentiary inquiries are proved, the officers have no authority to take action against any employee.

Doctors join duty with their will and the lower staff pays no heed to their duties. Daily quarrels with patients have also become a norm. Cars and motorcycles are stolen from the paid parking.

Public circles allege because of the influential personalities of the administration, no one has the courage to speak against them. They have demanded the availability of medicines and basic facilities to save people's lives.