Helping hands: Where govt fails, students step up to run JPMC

Run by SMC students, Patients Helping Hand offers patients the medical help they need.

KARACHI:

When supplies dwindle inside Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and the government machinery fails to provide medical facilities - even the very basic medicines - it is the students of the Sindh Medical College (SMC) who come to the rescue of the ever-swelling number of patients in the state-run hospital.

It was in July 2011 when a handful of medical students of SMC decided to stand up for the cause and do their bit for the betterment of a system that they considered lacking on many counts, from medicines to the provision of intensive care to serious patients.



Ahzem Arif, now a final-year student in SMC, tells the tale of how 12 students formed a group back in 2011 called Patients Helping Hands (PHH), aiming solely to offer patients the medical help the government failed to offer.

The organisation now runs two drugstores and two fully-equipped High Dependency Units (HDUs), entirely through funds it raises itself, and is working towards renovating and equipping another HDU in one of the medicine wards.

The would-be doctors might have achieved quite a lot over the past three years; however, their road hasn't been smooth. Since it is new to the profession and unaware of most of the bureaucratic technicalities, PHH sought assistance from senior doctors and lawyers in setting up its code of conduct and in fulfilling the legal formalities.



"We contacted Patients Welfare Association, which is run by students of Dow Medical College in Civil Hospital and has a similar modus operandi and setup," said Arif. "They helped us with information and procedures but left us the legwork, which in any case was what we signed up for and were ready to do." As their very first step, PHH established a drug bank where they provided medicines to patients who were not able to purchase them privately, since the hospital's own stock was short of most of the expensive drugs. "This drug bank was established in the children's ward, but now it is in a proper room that was allotted to PHH later in 2012," Arif explained.

When asked, JPMC joint executive director Dr Seemin Jamali said that public private partnerships have proven very helpful in running the hospital's affairs - especially when funds dried up after JPMC was handed over to the Sindh government.



"Even from the disbursed money, a large chunk goes towards paying the salaries of the doctors and support staff; there is only a meagre amount left for medication," said Dr Jamali. "It's the philanthropists who have kept the wheel running."

Dr Sagheer Hussain Shah, professor and head of JPMC's department of surgery, admitted that ever since the 18th Amendment, when the hospital came under the Sindh government's administration, there has been a shortage of medical supplies every three months. "The government releases funds on a quarterly basis, and every time there is a delay or any other hindrance in disbursements, it leads to shortage of medical supplies."

Establishing High Dependency Units

In 2013, after successfully establishing two drug banks, which cost up to Rs0.1 million a month, Patients Helping Hands started working on its next big project, an exceptionally ambitious undertaking. It constructed a four-bed High Dependency Unit (HDU) in Ward 26 of the surgical department.

“Before our venture, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre had only one HDU for four sections of the surgical department,” explained Hassam Arshad, a fourth-year medical student working for PHH’s project management unit. The existing HDU had eight beds, catering to the needs of 200 patients every day. “Handling the legal procedures for setting up the HDU was a major concern for us, since we needed the bureaucratic assurance as much as we needed funds,” said Arshad, describing how Dr Shah helped them with the legal aspects of their project throughout the setting up of the HDU.

“Since the formation of SMC in 1979, it is the first time students are contributing to a hospital they have studied in,” said Dr Shah, himself a SMC graduate. “I have tried to be a helping hand for PHH in their efforts.”

Once established, it was necessary for the HDU to have a 24-hour attendant. “JPMC excused itself from providing one, though, saying it was already short-staffed,” said Hassam. “So, PHH hired a nurse for the HDU’s night shift at its own expense.” Arif explained that PHH takes care of its everyday expenses and also of its expansion. “JPMC has accepted us as a separate entity, which uses their space for their benefit, so it’s a win-win situation for both.”

On the question of funding, Arshad said, “We have been constantly working to upgrade the equipment we have installed here. Most of it has come through donations, either in cash or by other means.” Apart from Dr Sagheer, PHH has had assistance from Dr Zeeshan Haider, a senior postgraduate fellow at JPMC. Dr Haider, who teaches these students in the classroom, is a valuable friend outside it. “The dedication and motivation of these students is amazing, and I feel proud that I taught them,” said Dr Haider. “As far as helping them is concerned, I have merely tried to fulfil my responsibility as a concerned citizen by becoming part of their cause. I should be thanking them for giving me the opportunity.”

After their success with the surgical HDU, PHH went on to establish a similar HDU - this time with six beds - in Medical Ward 7, dubbed M7. Yet another HDU is in the pipeline, with proposals to purchase medical equipment for the unit being drafted and approved.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2014.