Long waits at PIMS: Disgruntled public wants evening shift
Claims doctors prefer to serve at private clinics.
File photo of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Annoyed citizens demanded that hospital authorities start an evening shift at the outpatient departments (OPD) of the capital’s largest hospital. They said that if Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) would adopt this approach, it would help reduce the patient load in the mornings.
Due to the heavy load on OPD during the day, coupled with limited official timings for non-emergency treatment, several patients from far-flung areas fail to see a doctor.
Highlighting the staff shortages at Pims emergency and its OPDs, they also appealed for an increase in medical and paramedical staff for delivering better services to the patients.
They said doctors at
Pims have to cater to around 100 patients daily at the OPDs.
Citizens also lamented that many senior doctors were absent from duty in different wards, claiming that they prefer to work from their private clinics, which is against medical ethics.
Over 4,000 patients visit the hospital’s OPDs every day for various treatment. About 75 per cent of these are follow up visits, while rest are primary visits, a Pims official informed on Friday.
He said seven to eight-member teams of doctors perform duties in the hospital’s OPDs, including a medical officer, a professor, an assistant professor and post graduates, while filter clinics have two to three-member teams in each section.
He said around 800 patients also visit the hospital’s emergency ward, which includes the children emergency ward, burn hospital and mother-child emergency unit.
He said five to six community medical officers remain on duty in each emergency ward, where 80 per cent of patients come for treatment of minor diseases like coughs or headaches, while only 20 per cent are admitted in the ward with serious conditions such as head injuries or heart attack.
He stated that the hospital was established with the aim to provide special health services to patients with critical diseases only, however, now the hospital has become a major recipient for all kind of patients who visit
from various parts of the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2013.
Annoyed citizens demanded that hospital authorities start an evening shift at the outpatient departments (OPD) of the capital’s largest hospital. They said that if Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) would adopt this approach, it would help reduce the patient load in the mornings.
Due to the heavy load on OPD during the day, coupled with limited official timings for non-emergency treatment, several patients from far-flung areas fail to see a doctor.
Highlighting the staff shortages at Pims emergency and its OPDs, they also appealed for an increase in medical and paramedical staff for delivering better services to the patients.
They said doctors at
Pims have to cater to around 100 patients daily at the OPDs.
Citizens also lamented that many senior doctors were absent from duty in different wards, claiming that they prefer to work from their private clinics, which is against medical ethics.
Over 4,000 patients visit the hospital’s OPDs every day for various treatment. About 75 per cent of these are follow up visits, while rest are primary visits, a Pims official informed on Friday.
He said seven to eight-member teams of doctors perform duties in the hospital’s OPDs, including a medical officer, a professor, an assistant professor and post graduates, while filter clinics have two to three-member teams in each section.
He said around 800 patients also visit the hospital’s emergency ward, which includes the children emergency ward, burn hospital and mother-child emergency unit.
He said five to six community medical officers remain on duty in each emergency ward, where 80 per cent of patients come for treatment of minor diseases like coughs or headaches, while only 20 per cent are admitted in the ward with serious conditions such as head injuries or heart attack.
He stated that the hospital was established with the aim to provide special health services to patients with critical diseases only, however, now the hospital has become a major recipient for all kind of patients who visit
from various parts of the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2013.