05 October 2004	Tuesday	19 Shaban 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 4: Non-availability of investigation facilities in government hospitals during the night has been causing problems for relatives of patients, doctors said.

"Most of the investigations are carried out in hospitals in the morning, but patients needing emergency tests at night face problems due to non-existence of these facilities in the evening and night shifts," a doctor at the nursery ward of one of the teaching hospitals, told Dawn.

According to him, some of the tests were required by doctors on an emergency basis, especially in cardiology, medical, children and neuro-surgery wards and relatives of patients had to get these tests done from privately-owned laboratories during evening and night shifts.

"We need some tests on an urgent basis to evaluate the condition of patients and put them on drugs accordingly, but as most of test facilities are not available at government hospitals in evening and night shifts, the relatives of the patients had to take samples to laboratories situated away from the hospital," causing problems for both the relatives and doctors especially in emergency cases, a cardiologist said.

A person at one of the hospitals, said that he brought his pregnant wife to a government hospital where she was advised an ultrasound by doctors at the labour room at 10pm. "There was no doctor at the hospital to perform the test and I took my wife, who was in deep trouble, to a nearby ultrasound clinic," he said.

"To my dismay, the doctor was sleeping and I rushed my wife back to the hospital in critical condition. Later, the doctors put her on drips and pain-killers for the night until, he did the ultrasound of his wife the next morning at the hospital," said Jamil Khan from Bannu.

Not only that but patients had to suffer in the wake of non-availability of CT Scan and MRI facilities at the hospitals. "My brother was injured in an accident on the GT Road and was advised an MRI test, which was not available at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH). I shifted my brother to Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) at 2am, where the technician gave a number for the morning shift," said a man from Mardan.

In all the three teaching hospitals of the city, there are no qualified pathologist or radiologist to perform the test, a doctor said. He said that most of the radiologists, pathologists and cardiologists have established their private clinics and they do not want to make all these facilities available at government hospitals in evening and night shifts.

"If all these facilities are made available at the government hospitals then the patients would prefer the hospitals and the private clinics of the doctors would have no business," he said.

Giving stances, he said that ultrasound, CT scan and pathology clinics were being run by the people who also happened to be servants at the public sector's hospital.

He said that three years ago, when the government introduced institution-based practice (IBP) at government hospitals, all the tests were then performed at the hospitals, because the doctors and technicians got handsome commission.

"But the MMA government did away with the IBP, due to which all investigation facilities disappeared from the hospital," a doctor told Dawn Arsalan Khan, who is looking after his ailing son at a city hospital, said that his son was prescribed a blood test by a medical officer in nursery ward at 2:30am.

He said he was sent to a designated private hospital, from where he got the test done. Most of the people having no vehicle, had to run from pillar to post to get the desired tests carried out from private laboratories. On the other hand, doctors and technicians say that they need chemicals for these tests which are available only in the morning shifts.