Medical Superintendent Rashid Maqbool says number of deaths of children under age of 12 doubled over previous year. PHOTO: FILE
“More than 3,000 children under the age of 12 died at Allied Hospital, Faisalabad in 2013,” Medical Superintendent (MS) Rashid Maqbool said on Friday.
Maqbool told The Express Tribune that 230 children had died in January, 2013, 230 in February, 225 in March, 263 in April, 270 in May, 313 in June, 296 in July, 332 in August, 259 in September, 297 in October, 248 in November and 293 in December.
Maqbool said the number of deaths of children under the age of 12 had doubled over the previous year.
“There is a shortage of children’s hospitals in the region.”
He said the 30-bed children’s ward at the hospital was catering to people from Khushab, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Mianwali, Jhang, Chiniot and Toba Tek Singh.
“Most of them [patients] are critical by the time they are brought here,” he added.
“The hospital lacks proper facilities for pediaetric surgery… it has two pediaetric surgeons, too few for the number of patients,” he added.
The provincial government had decided to establish a children’s hospital in Samundri in 2005 but the project is yet to be completed.
Muhammad Afzal Butt, focal person for the project, told The Express Tribune that the delay in completion of the project was due to change of construction site.
“The construction site was changed to Sargodha Road from Samundri… it will now be established at Jhang Road,” he said.
Butt said the projected cost of the “modern hospital” was Rs3.5 billion. “The provincial government has already released Rs5 million to kickstart work.”
He said the hospital had been designed keeping in view the needs of child patients for another 10 years. “There will be no shortage of staff at the new hospital,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ