National News

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10 (APP):Patients on Sunday demanded of the authorities concerned to take notice of pathetic services, being offered at
Gynaecology department of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
According to them, many women patients who visited hospital from far-flung areas had to wait for hours in long queues outside
the gyne department for getting medical cards, where limited place for waiting had been arranged for them.
They said that due to issuing limited medical cards and limited duration of issuance of cards, a large number
of patients had to return home empty-handed by the end of the day, despite waiting for hours in long queues.
Mostly patients were often asked to return the next day by department administration, which could prove fatal
for pregnant women, who visited the hospital from remote areas, they said.
They also complained about ineffective treatment methodology, rude attitude of lady doctors and shortage of
senior doctors at gyne wards.
They said that only limited beds were available in gyne wards, where not only staff was limited but there were
acute shortage of medicines.
They asked to take notice of frequent absence of senior doctors and non-observance of duty-roster by medical and non-medical staff at gyne wards.
“There should be a monitoring mechanism to check them whether the duty staff observed their duties or not at
gyne wards,” said Altaf Shah, a husband of patient.
He said that a system of reward and punishment should be started by the hospital management under which responsible staff
should be encouraged while those who do not take their duties seriously should be taken to task.
Another attendant, Naem Malik alleged that senior doctors mostly remained absent from their duties while only
postgraduate (PG) doctors, who were studying there, run the affairs of the most
sensitive department of the hospital.
He added due to the limited knowledge and experience, the PGs could not satisfy the patients having serious
medical complications. They even could not properly treat patients with minor
medical issues at OPDs and mostly referred serious ones to other hospitals.
Asif Mumtaz, the attendant of the woman said, “The rush at Gyne OPDs is maddening here. The hospital should increase
the OPD rooms for dealing with maximum number of patients daily besides
increasing the number of beds.”
He added senior gynaecologists should be posted in labour rooms so that these are vacated early while
the number of operation theaters should be increased to ensure routine gynaecological
surgeries to keep more beds free for deliveries.
He said that the city dispensaries should be strengthened and gynaecologists should be posted at each
of them while the timings of these dispensaries should be increased to
facilitate patients.
“Some doctors are good, but the hospital’s gyne ward should have more beds as it is not easy to lay on a stretcher,
especially after a caesarean operation. The entire experience was horrifying. I
cannot wait to get back home,” said a patient.
She said due to non-professional attitude of the staff at the labour rooms and gyne wards, patients faced
several hardships, particularly those in critical condition.
Sometimes patients at the gyne department, she said, needed immediate response from expert doctors but only PGs were found there and the specialist doctors could not reach the ward on time.
Another patient said keeping in view the serious nature of the section, only well trained medical and
non-medical staff, who know the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and all other procedures, should be assigned at this department.
She said that the authorities concerned should immediately expand the existing gyne ward with more staff to
provide timely and properly medical care to the patients. The antenatal and postnatal services should be improved for patient care, she added.
“It was surprising when I came to know that the senior doctors were making mere rounds, while the junior graduates were
performing complicated operations without any supervision.”
A junior doctor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told this scribe that senior doctors, including those
on night duties often remained absent from the wards while they preferred
C-section rather normal delivery to collect more money from poor patients.
When contacted, an official of PIMS said that unlike medical practices abroad where one doctor examines five to
seven patients in a day, here at PIMS each doctor had to examine several
patients daily at gyne OPDs due to shortage of medical practitioners.
He said a sufficient number of doctors perform their duties in the hospital’s Gynaecology department including
wards at day and night time to properly serve the patients.
He said the hospital management had taken several steps to provide best medical care to the patients. He added
a team of doctors remained in the gyne wards of the hospital round the clock to provide proper medical cover to the patients.