PIMS OPDs: Patients demand full-fledge evening shifts

Daytime staff cannot handle patient load; some OPDs only active in the daytime.

ISLAMABAD: Patients visiting the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) have demanded a full-fledged evening shift outpatient department (OPD) at the hospital keeping in view the burden on the morning shift.

Due to the heavy load on the daytime OPD, several patients, who visit the hospital from far-flung areas, have to face a lot of problems and return without being checked up by doctors.

They also complained of inadequate staff at the emergency ward.

An official at the PIMS said that more than 4,000 patients visit the OPD on a daily basis and out of them, 75 percent are follow up visits while 25 percent are new patients.

He said that seven to eight members team of doctors perform duty at the OPDs while two to three doctors work at each section of Filter Clinics.

The official said that around 800 to 900 patients were brought to the hospital’s emergency ward and five to six medical officers remain on duty in each emergency ward.



He said that the hospital had been established to provide special health services to the patients with critical conditions, but the hospital has to entertain patients of all background.

Unlike medical practices abroad, where one doctor examines five to seven patients in a day, here each doctor has to examine 100 patients daily,” the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2013.