Postal dispensaries shut over funds shortage

Staff discharged, equipment removed, medical centre being converted into officer's residence

RAWALPINDI:

Pakistan Post has started closing its dispensaries and medical centres in Rawalpindi due to the prevailing financial and economic crisis.

The work of dispensaries and medical centres has practically come to an end due to the cessation of supply of medicines and medical equipment for many years. The boards attached to the dispensary and medical centres have also been disbanded.

All the staff of the medical centre confirmed the termination of the medical centre and dispensary, saying that the doctors and senior staff have been discharged, the raw materials for any test including X-rays have also been exhausted. "The board of the medical centre has been taken away from us, while all the equipment, cupboards and other things of the medical centre have been turned into junk and stored in a room," they said. Due to the crisis of severe shortage of funds, 20 per cent of post offices in Rawalpindi district have been closed.

The staff is sitting on their hands. The only lady doctor of the medical centre located in Rawalpindi has been dismissed from her job due to lack of funds and it has been decided to convert the medical centre building into an officer's residence, the preparations and decoration of which are being started. A few days ago, the storage cabinets for medical equipment and emergency ward beds were also removed. The treatment and medical tests of Pakistan Post employees at the medical centre have also been discontinued.

The officials present at the medical centre said that for years, a large number of doctors had been posted in dispensaries and medical centres in all postal circles across the country. "A sizable number of staff were providing services. But due to the closure of funds and the unavailability of medicines, test kits and X-ray equipment, there is a situation of extreme anxiety and uncertainty among the staff because no decision has been made about the staff future," they said. It is not possible to change the medical cadres including dispensers and technicians to any other cadre of the institution.

According to the employees, in the past, the plan to run the Rawalpindi Medical Centre in collaboration with the private sector was under consideration, but now it has also been terminated because no party from the private sector has come forward. According to the employees, the officer to whom the building of the Rawalpindi Medical Centre has been allotted is not even posted in this circle.