Largest referral hospital turns into referring hospital

Defective equipment forcing incoming patients at PIMS to go elsewhere.

ISLAMABAD:

The country’s largest referral hospital, is referring patients to other hospitals due to faulty machinery and shortage of medical equipment.

The main emergency ward at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), currently lacks simple surgical instruments used in operation theatre (OT). In this critical ward there is only one Electrocardiogram (ECG) machine, according to a senior doctor who wished not to be named.

The doctor stated that patients have to wait for hours as there is only one OT at the emergency ward whereas some life saving drugs are either unavailable or spurious. He informed further that more than a 1,000 patients come to the emergency department from Islamabad and far-flung areas in Kashmir, K-P, G-B on a daily basis and have to suffer due to shortage of medical equipment. “They are being referred to other hospitals,” lamented the doctor.

Lack of facility main cause of death

Poverty stricken Muzzafar Hussain, a resident of Nai Abadi, Bhara Kahu was brought to the Pims emergency ward on the eve of May 16 after being referred from Polyclinic Hospital. He was suffering from chest pain and was vomiting blood.

“When we went to Pims the doctors said the medical equipment required for treatment is unavailable and out of order and the patient should be taken to Holy Family Hospital (HFH) Rawalpindi,” claims Hussain’s attendant Khan Mohammad.

After initial treatment, around midnight the staff at the emergency ward told Khan to go to HFH as they had run out of oxygen in the cylinders. “He was in critical condition and we barely managed to gather money for transportation to Rawalpindi,” he said.

Around 2am Hussain suffered from a heart attack and was pronounced dead an hour later at HFH.

Hussain by profession was a daily wage labourer and his second son was born only last week. “Now who is going to look after this poor family, who should be blamed for his death? Poverty or the government officials who have deprived poor people from their basic right to health,” asked a grieving Mohammad.

Pims Administrator Prof Dr Iqbal Memon said through international grant the hospital will soon get new medical equipment and 17 beds will be added to the emergency department.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2013.