SARGODHA: Pakistan Medical Association vice president and its Sargodha chapter president, Dr Sikandar Warraich, says the PMA is collecting evidence and data on the shortage of facilities in the district headquarters (DHQ) teaching hospital while it will publish a white paper after three days on the infants deaths.

He has also given three days to government to provide Rs200m for medicines, saying it was provided only Rs50m per year for medicines whereas the amount was more than Rs60m per year some seven years ago.

Dr Warraich was talking to the newsmen here on Tuesday.

He said the PMA would provide Rs350,000 to be spent on emergency ward of the DHQ hospital and Dr Sami Iqbal, the suspended MS of the DHQ hospital, had collected Rs3m from traders and spent on the ICU of the hospital but he was made a scapegoat after the deaths to hide the government’s fault. He said the paediatrics ward and the ICU were not shifted from old building, which had a centralised oxygen system provided with the funds of philanthropists, due to non-provision of centralised oxygen supply in the new building.

The PMA vice president said mortality rate of premature births was not less than Sargodha even in the developed countries but neither the MS was suspended nor were the doctors arrested there. He reiterated there was no fault of doctors in the death of babies, however, there was a lack of equipment and medicines. He raised the question that why arrangements for centralised supply of oxygen were not made.

Gives deadline to govt to provide funds for medicines

Dr Warraich regretted that due to the biased attitude of government, doctors and other staff were passing through mental agony as they were working day and night but still they were facing threat of arrest from the government.

Meanwhile, after the news flashed about the frequent deaths of children in the DHQ hospital, the rush in the paediatrics ward has decreased and an old incubator, from another hospital, has been provided to the DHQ hospital. Though the chief minister has assured supply of 20 incubators to the hospital but the assurance has to materialise yet .

There are only 13 infants in paediatrics ward right now and most of them were prematurely born. One baby, Nisar, weighing 1.5kg, is on oxygen has only while there are some babies admitted as result of malnutrition. Five babies were reported to be in critical condition.

The local administration has also started an inquiry into the slogans of Go Nawaz Go raised by some of the staff members of the DHQ hospital while protesting against the Punjab government on Monday. The administration is locating the staff which raised slogan of Go Nawaz Go and reviewing the video recorded by the camera men and news flashed on the electronic media.

QUILTS: The district administration distributed quilts among 900 families out of 6,485 flood affected families.

As per an official handout, the assistant commissioners of respective tehsils and elected MNAs and MPAs distributed quilts in their areas.

In tehsil Bhera, 1,782 families were hit by flood but only 247 people got the quilts similarly in tehsil Shahpur, out of 2,208 affected families only 308 people, in tehsil Sahiwal, out of 1,075 affected families, 149 people, in Kotmomin out of 204 affected families, 167, and out of 206 families in tehsil Sargodha, 29 people got quilts. The distribution was done on the recommendations of public representatives.

TRADERS PROTEST: All the trade organisations staged a sit-in against the delay in construction of the overhead bridge for the last four years and warned that if the construction was not carried out within four weeks, the traders would stage the sit-in for an indefinite period.

This was announced by Ahmad Hanif, president Anjuman Tajran Sargodha, while addressing the protesters. Office-bearers of the district bar association also joined the sit-in.

Meanwhile, some of the trader organisations said Ahmad Hanif had announced four weeks deadline without consulting all traders.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2014