Karachi:
Due to its advanced treatment facilities, Karachi is known to attract patients from all sindh and baloutchistan. However, with only 6,500 beds, 250 fans and a shortage of doctors and medical staff, the city’s major hospitals are poorly equipped to manage the local influx of patients.
Sadia Khatun, who came to Jinnah’s hospital for her husband’s gallbladder surgery, was informed by the staff that no bed was available. “I had a hard time getting a bed for my husband, but I did not succeed. For two weeks, I went to Jinnah hospital for the admission of my husband, but I couldn’t find a bed. Poor patients should wait endlessly to be admitted to government hospitals because they had to face serious difficulties in obtaining treatment, “said Sadia, who finally took a loan for her husband’s treatment in a private hospital.
According to former director of health Karachi Dr Ikram Sultan, the unavailability of treatment facilities in district hospitals of the interior Sindh led to a huge influx of patients in government hospitals. “Jinnah’s hospital receives a large number of patients not only from Karachi but also other cities.
Sources de l’Express PK Press Club revealed that 60% of Karachi district hospitals were occupied. Although these hospitals provide primary health care establishments, they face a serious shortage of paramedical and nurse personnel, with specialists such as anesthesiologists, nephrologists and unavailable pulmonologists. This considerably increases the influx of patients in the main tertiary care centers in the provincial capital.
For example, the civil hospital receives 2,000 patients daily in the accident service while 8,000 patients visit the OPD for examination. The hospital admits 200 patients each day. In response to a question, Dr. Khalid Bukhari, hospital manager, reported an unprecedented increase in the number of patients from Sindh and Balutchistan. “For this reason, Karachi patients sometimes have to wait one to two months before receiving treatment,” said Dr. Bukhari.
Likewise, the spokesperson for Jinnah Hospital Jahangir Durrani informed that most of the hospital’s intensive care units were inactive due to 50% of the staff not available. “Intensive care technicians are needed to manage equipment. Due to the acute shortage of intensive care units, patients are only admitted on five out of 15 beds in intensive chest care. Likewise, there are 21 beds in surgical intensive care, but patients are admitted to only eight, “said Durrani.
On a similar note, the executive director of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Accident and Emergency Trauma Center, Dr. Sabir Memon, revealed that there were a total of 500 beds in the trauma center, 60 of which were non -functional. Likewise, the Sindh Liaquatabad Government Hospital has only 200 beds, four operational theaters and 16 fans, with 75% of the beds occupied by patients. A single scanner machine is not available in the installation. Similar shortages on beds and medical staff have been reported to Lyari general hospital, at the Government Hospital of Sindh Qatar, at the Sindh Sudabad government hospital, the Sindh Korangi government hospital and the Government of the Sindh New Karachi Hospital.
To worsen things, the main government hospitals in Karachi, including the civil hospital, the Institute of Urology and the Transplantation of the Sindh (SIUT), the Trauma Center, the Service Hospital and the Office of the Police Surgeon are located in a densely populated area of the Route de Ma Jinnah, where the ambulance movement is often obstructed by heavy traffic.
