Lack of life-savers: Where are the ventilators?
Public hospitals in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan have a shortage of essential facilities.
Public hospitals in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan have a shortage of essential facilities.
KARACHI:
Muhammad Nawaz lost his father, on the way from Sukkur to Karachi. The reason? He needed a ventilator and Sukkur’s biggest public sector hospital, the Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College and Hospital (GMC), couldn’t provide a single one.
Sadly, such stories aren’t rare. All across Sindh and its adjacent provinces, Punjab and Balochistan, there are many areas and many major public hospitals that have few, or no, ventilators.
Jarring expenses
Riaz Mastoi’s mother-in-law, Naseeba Khatoon, died within five hours as the family took her from one hospital to another, once again in search of available ventilators. Riaz was advised to take her to a private hospital in Karachi but knew he would never be able to afford the cost, between Rs20,000 and Rs30,000 per day.
This lack of ventilators in Sukkur is especially worrying. There is an approximate distance of 500 km between Sukkur and Karachi, and for patients from nearby districts of Balochistan and lower Punjab, this is a convenient city.
“Yet, there is no ICU in this hospital [GMC],” says Dr Usman Mako. “Thus, when a person in critical condition is referred to Karachi, there is practically no chance of survival.”
According to a rough estimate provided by doctors, Sukkur’s main hospital immediately needs a 10 to 15 bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward.
“People in Sukkur, and those in surrounding areas, belong to humble family backgrounds,” explains Mako. “They can’t afford huge expenses and often die on the way to bigger cities.”
Many patients, few beds
Hyderabad is the only option between Sukkur and Karachi, but the story isn’t too different. Abdul Latif lost his 14-hour old baby because the largest hospital couldn’t provide him a ventilator.
Information shared by the Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad and Jamshoro, an 18-bed ICU is fully functional in Hyderabad and a 6-bed unit is established in Jamshoro.
However, these are hardly sufficient for a population of 10 million-plus.
“All of these beds are completely occupied 24/7,” says Dr Aleem Thebo, the Medical Superintendent of Hyderabad’s hospital.
While Thebo states that not a single patient has died in his hospital due to the unavailability of ventilators in the past couple of months, a hospital source reveals that this may be because serious patients are often referred to private hospitals.
Inadequate facilities
“We have four ventilators and need at least four more,” reveals Dr Safiullah Abbasi of Chandka Medical College and Hospital Larkana (CMC).
Larkana’s hospital not only caters to patients from adjacent districts, including Khairpur, Naushehro Feroze, Dadu, and Jacobabad, but also to hundreds of patients from Balochistan.
“Majority of the attendants prefer Karachi, even though we have good facilities at CMC,” a doctor claims. He is speechless when asked why even hospital employees prefer Karachi’s private hospitals.
Khairpur’s civil hospital paints a similarly distressing picture. The health department in Sindh has no record of any ventilators there, but Dr Allah Warayo Hakro, the medical superintendent, says that two life saving machines are available.
“Both are functional, yet we need at least four more,” he states. “The machines need uninterrupted supply,” he adds.
Karachi in the spotlight
The Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), one of the biggest public sector hospitals in the province, just has 22 ventilators but five of them are out of order.
Roughly 5,000 to 7,000 patients visit CHK daily – mostly from rural Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab.
Surprisingly, despite the number of patients, the administration seems satisfied with its current capacity.
“We can easily manage,” says Professor M Saeed Quraishy, the medical superintendent of the CHK. What Quraishy believes the CHK does need is trained staff to operate the machines.
“Considering the number of patients, we will always be in need of more. Even 100 new ones won’t be enough. Besides, how would we be able to manage more machines if there was no trained staff?”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2013.
Muhammad Nawaz lost his father, on the way from Sukkur to Karachi. The reason? He needed a ventilator and Sukkur’s biggest public sector hospital, the Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College and Hospital (GMC), couldn’t provide a single one.
Sadly, such stories aren’t rare. All across Sindh and its adjacent provinces, Punjab and Balochistan, there are many areas and many major public hospitals that have few, or no, ventilators.
Jarring expenses
Riaz Mastoi’s mother-in-law, Naseeba Khatoon, died within five hours as the family took her from one hospital to another, once again in search of available ventilators. Riaz was advised to take her to a private hospital in Karachi but knew he would never be able to afford the cost, between Rs20,000 and Rs30,000 per day.
This lack of ventilators in Sukkur is especially worrying. There is an approximate distance of 500 km between Sukkur and Karachi, and for patients from nearby districts of Balochistan and lower Punjab, this is a convenient city.
“Yet, there is no ICU in this hospital [GMC],” says Dr Usman Mako. “Thus, when a person in critical condition is referred to Karachi, there is practically no chance of survival.”
According to a rough estimate provided by doctors, Sukkur’s main hospital immediately needs a 10 to 15 bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward.
“People in Sukkur, and those in surrounding areas, belong to humble family backgrounds,” explains Mako. “They can’t afford huge expenses and often die on the way to bigger cities.”
Many patients, few beds
Hyderabad is the only option between Sukkur and Karachi, but the story isn’t too different. Abdul Latif lost his 14-hour old baby because the largest hospital couldn’t provide him a ventilator.
Information shared by the Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad and Jamshoro, an 18-bed ICU is fully functional in Hyderabad and a 6-bed unit is established in Jamshoro.
However, these are hardly sufficient for a population of 10 million-plus.
“All of these beds are completely occupied 24/7,” says Dr Aleem Thebo, the Medical Superintendent of Hyderabad’s hospital.
While Thebo states that not a single patient has died in his hospital due to the unavailability of ventilators in the past couple of months, a hospital source reveals that this may be because serious patients are often referred to private hospitals.
Inadequate facilities
“We have four ventilators and need at least four more,” reveals Dr Safiullah Abbasi of Chandka Medical College and Hospital Larkana (CMC).
Larkana’s hospital not only caters to patients from adjacent districts, including Khairpur, Naushehro Feroze, Dadu, and Jacobabad, but also to hundreds of patients from Balochistan.
“Majority of the attendants prefer Karachi, even though we have good facilities at CMC,” a doctor claims. He is speechless when asked why even hospital employees prefer Karachi’s private hospitals.
Khairpur’s civil hospital paints a similarly distressing picture. The health department in Sindh has no record of any ventilators there, but Dr Allah Warayo Hakro, the medical superintendent, says that two life saving machines are available.
“Both are functional, yet we need at least four more,” he states. “The machines need uninterrupted supply,” he adds.
Karachi in the spotlight
The Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), one of the biggest public sector hospitals in the province, just has 22 ventilators but five of them are out of order.
Roughly 5,000 to 7,000 patients visit CHK daily – mostly from rural Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab.
Surprisingly, despite the number of patients, the administration seems satisfied with its current capacity.
“We can easily manage,” says Professor M Saeed Quraishy, the medical superintendent of the CHK. What Quraishy believes the CHK does need is trained staff to operate the machines.
“Considering the number of patients, we will always be in need of more. Even 100 new ones won’t be enough. Besides, how would we be able to manage more machines if there was no trained staff?”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2013.