KARACHI, Aug 1: The Civil Hospital Karachi is in need of in-patient chest ward, as the number of patients suffering from chest diseases is increasing by every passing day. Despite being the biggest tertiary-care hospital of the country, it seemed that no serious attention by hospital administration was being paid to this issue.

A doctor working at the CHK, requesting for anonymity, said that patients suffering from tuberculosis were being referred to the Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases for admission, but patients having other chest problems apart from tuberculosis avoided to go there, as they considered this institute reserved only for TB patients.

Around 125 patients visit Chest OPD every day, out of them around five per cent patients need admission owing to their condition and severity of the disease. These patients usually avoid going to Ojha for treatment, as they reside in main city areas near the civil hospital, he added.

Former medical superintendent of the CHK was also apprised about the situation and he considered this issue valid as far as the CHK was concerned, the doctor added.

He said that many other doctors were not aware of the actual vision of government regarding the CHK, as government had announced to establish a Board of Governors to manage teaching hospitals.

“The final decision of government in this regard will determine the way to be followed in order to meet future needs,” he added.

In this regard, Civil Hospital’s MS Prof Saeed Qureshi said that chest patients were currently being handled and admitted in general medicine wards, as two professors of medicines Dr Salahuddin Afsar and Dr Illahi Bukhsh were well-trained in chest diseases.

“Patients suffering from severe stage of chest problems are referred to the Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases for admission. There is no need to have separate chest ward in CHK, nor we have any space for such a ward,” he added. —PPI