In sweltering heat: Patients, visitors suffer as PM visits PIMS
Even ambulances with patients onboard were made to wait outside the hospital.
An ambulance waits for permission to enter the hospital (left); while Inayatullah and his son look for some shade. PHOTOS: SEHRISH WASIF/ EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
Before suffering an unexpected illness requiring emergency treatment, always remember to check what the prime minister’s agendas for the day is.
For patients at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), a visit to the hospital by the premier meant that the gates were effectively closed and they had to wait it out in the sweltering heat. To top it off, the visit was not even official in the strictest sense, as PM Nawaz Sharif was there to meet Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Central General Secretary Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, who has been admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital for the last three months.
Even ambulances with emergencies were made to wait in long queues on the road, causing a massive traffic jam outside the hospital. Heated arguments between the traffic police and commuters were also witnessed. Some patients and attendants who were already inside the hospital claimed doctors and the hospital management unnecessarily forced them in and out of different wards before the premier’s arrival.
Inayatullah, 66, one in a swarm of patients standing in the scorching heat, had not eaten in a day because of a scheduled ultrasound. “I am starving, thirsty and near-fainting,” he said, adding that he had come from Taxila with his son, Taj Mir Khan.
Khan claimed that when they tried to enter the outpatient department, they were pushed back by the medical staff and told to come back later as the prime minister was about to visit the hospital.
Farhat Bibi and her three-year-old son Nouman had been waiting for an hour on the roadside. Every time she approached the entrance gate security officials would shout at her to go back.
“My son has a severe stomach ache and I have come to get him checked here as I cannot afford a private clinic,” said Bibi, who had come from Golra Mor. She said that the doctor checked her son in haste and asked her to visit the hospital again later.
“I paid Rs300 for a cab to get here and will have to pay the same to get back home. It is really shameful how VIP movement makes poor people suffer,” she said.
Parveen Bibi, was trying to go inside the hospital to deliver food to a patient. She said, “For almost an hour, I’ve been trying to go inside, but the security staff are not letting me. [The] patient is starving and needs food before he can take his medication,” she said.
Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (Pims) Vice-Chancellor Professor Javed Akram said, “The prime minister’s visit lasted for only for half-an-hour and during that time, people were stopped from entering the main building due to security reasons.”
He claimed that after the prime minister’s departure, OPD timings were extended to facilitate patients.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2014.
Before suffering an unexpected illness requiring emergency treatment, always remember to check what the prime minister’s agendas for the day is.
For patients at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), a visit to the hospital by the premier meant that the gates were effectively closed and they had to wait it out in the sweltering heat. To top it off, the visit was not even official in the strictest sense, as PM Nawaz Sharif was there to meet Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Central General Secretary Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, who has been admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital for the last three months.
Even ambulances with emergencies were made to wait in long queues on the road, causing a massive traffic jam outside the hospital. Heated arguments between the traffic police and commuters were also witnessed. Some patients and attendants who were already inside the hospital claimed doctors and the hospital management unnecessarily forced them in and out of different wards before the premier’s arrival.
An ambulance waits for permission to enter the hospital (left); while Inayatullah and his son look for some shade. PHOTOS: SEHRISH WASIF/ EXPRESS
Inayatullah, 66, one in a swarm of patients standing in the scorching heat, had not eaten in a day because of a scheduled ultrasound. “I am starving, thirsty and near-fainting,” he said, adding that he had come from Taxila with his son, Taj Mir Khan.
Khan claimed that when they tried to enter the outpatient department, they were pushed back by the medical staff and told to come back later as the prime minister was about to visit the hospital.
Farhat Bibi and her three-year-old son Nouman had been waiting for an hour on the roadside. Every time she approached the entrance gate security officials would shout at her to go back.
“My son has a severe stomach ache and I have come to get him checked here as I cannot afford a private clinic,” said Bibi, who had come from Golra Mor. She said that the doctor checked her son in haste and asked her to visit the hospital again later.
“I paid Rs300 for a cab to get here and will have to pay the same to get back home. It is really shameful how VIP movement makes poor people suffer,” she said.
Parveen Bibi, was trying to go inside the hospital to deliver food to a patient. She said, “For almost an hour, I’ve been trying to go inside, but the security staff are not letting me. [The] patient is starving and needs food before he can take his medication,” she said.
Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (Pims) Vice-Chancellor Professor Javed Akram said, “The prime minister’s visit lasted for only for half-an-hour and during that time, people were stopped from entering the main building due to security reasons.”
He claimed that after the prime minister’s departure, OPD timings were extended to facilitate patients.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2014.