Heart-wrenching: Patients at PIC emergency dept being treated on floor
Doctors say shortage of beds at hospital alarming.
PIC Board of Management member and MPA Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said the groundbreaking of the 100-bed emergency department had taken place and that it was likely to become functional this year. PHOTO: Punjab Institute of Cardiology FACEBOOK PAGE
LAHORE:
Visitors might find it surprising but for doctors at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) it is no longer shocking to perform cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on patients on the ground due to a shortage of beds at the hospital’s emergency department.
“Almost everyday some patients have to be laid down for CPR,” a PIC doctor told The Express Tribune.
“I was once doing CPR on the ground when [Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain arrived there,” said the doctor who did not want to be named. Later, PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi tweeted about the shortage of beds at the hospital, he said.
He said of the 28 beds at the department, 18 were in proper shape. The remaining 10 ‘beds’ are actually stretchers, he said.
The approved strength of the department is 14 beds. Nearly 1,200 patients are brought to the department daily.
“Around 100 patients are of acute heart attack. Ideally, they should be admitted to the hospital for five to seven days. But, doing so means we cannot take more patients,” a consultant at the PIC said.
He said some patients had been given appointment for angiography for February. Some of those who needed to be operated on had been asked to visit the hospital in 20 months, he said.
“There are 5,000 requests pending for angiography. There is an acute shortage of resources.” He said a project to construct a new 100-bed emergency department was approved 20 months ago.
PIC Board of Management member and MPA Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said the groundbreaking of the 100-bed emergency department had taken place and that it was likely to become functional this year.
“The number of patients is very high. But we are taking measures to improve the situation,” she said.
She said the government was working on linking six cardiac units. Patients would then be taken from one unit to another, if there was need.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2015.
Visitors might find it surprising but for doctors at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) it is no longer shocking to perform cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on patients on the ground due to a shortage of beds at the hospital’s emergency department.
“Almost everyday some patients have to be laid down for CPR,” a PIC doctor told The Express Tribune.
“I was once doing CPR on the ground when [Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain arrived there,” said the doctor who did not want to be named. Later, PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi tweeted about the shortage of beds at the hospital, he said.
He said of the 28 beds at the department, 18 were in proper shape. The remaining 10 ‘beds’ are actually stretchers, he said.
The approved strength of the department is 14 beds. Nearly 1,200 patients are brought to the department daily.
“Around 100 patients are of acute heart attack. Ideally, they should be admitted to the hospital for five to seven days. But, doing so means we cannot take more patients,” a consultant at the PIC said.
He said some patients had been given appointment for angiography for February. Some of those who needed to be operated on had been asked to visit the hospital in 20 months, he said.
“There are 5,000 requests pending for angiography. There is an acute shortage of resources.” He said a project to construct a new 100-bed emergency department was approved 20 months ago.
PIC Board of Management member and MPA Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said the groundbreaking of the 100-bed emergency department had taken place and that it was likely to become functional this year.
“The number of patients is very high. But we are taking measures to improve the situation,” she said.
She said the government was working on linking six cardiac units. Patients would then be taken from one unit to another, if there was need.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2015.